Second juror in New Hampshire youth center abuse trial explains verdict, says state misinterpreted

CONCORD, N.H. — One of the jurors who awarded a New Hampshire man $38 million in a landmark lawsuit over abuse at the state’s youth detention center says the state is misinterpreting the verdict by capping the payment at $475,000. When asked on a verdict form how many incidents they found Meehan had proven, they wrote “one.” The completed form does not indicate whether they found a single instance of abuse or grouped all of Meehan’s allegations together, but one of the jurors emailed Meehan’s attorney on Sunday to explain their reasoning. “We wrote on our verdict form that there was 1 incident/injury, being complex PTSD, from the result of 100+ injuries,” the juror wrote, according to court documents filed Sunday by Meehan’s attorneys. “David should be entitled to what we awarded him, which was $38 million.” Meehan’s attorneys have asked the judge in the case to hold an emergency hearing on the matter Monday and have brought in former state Supreme Court Justice Gary Hicks to help make their case. The jury foreperson emailed one of Meehan’s attorneys Rus Rilee, within hours of the verdict, saying, “I’m absolutely devastated.” The next morning, the foreperson sent a message to attorney David Vicinanzo saying, “My guilt kept me awake for the better part of the night.” “I was literally sickened and brought to tears in fear of the mistake we made.