A private investigator who claimed Mingo County officials cooked up charges against him when they thought he was investigating former circuit judge Michael Thornsbury will get $100,000 from a state insurance provider.
The state Board of Risk and Insurance Management will pay private investigator Donald Stevens and his attorneys the money, according to an agreement reached after a mediation session. A trial in Stevens' lawsuit had been set to begin next month.
Stevens filed the lawsuit in Kanawha Circuit Court in 2013 against Thornsbury, the state Supreme Court, as the former judge's employer, former county prosecuting attorney Michael Sparks, former Williamson police chief Dave Rockel and Rockel's employer, the city of Williamson.
The lawsuit also named the Mingo County Commission, because of the actions of three county employees: Sparks; former Sheriff Eugene Crum, who was a special investigator for the county during the events described in Stevens' lawsuit; and William Davis, the county's former 911 director and floodplain coordinator.
According to the settlement, BRIM didn't agree to pay on behalf of those employees. Instead, the agency paid on behalf of two men the lawsuit identifies only as John Does.
Stevens' lawsuit alleges that the unidentified men beat him at the behest of the other defendants.
"I'm not really sure why they wanted to structure [the settlement] like that," said David Barney, one of the attorneys representing Stevens, "but it does make you scratch your head. They've picked out the two unidentified men to agree to pay on behalf of who are alleged to have assaulted Mr. Stevens on behalf of the defendants. I think that speaks volumes in terms of the settlement."
Stevens' lawsuit claims that, at Thornsbury's behest, Mingo officials had him arrested and gave him the choice of going to jail or signing an agreement saying he would move his investigation business out of Mingo County.
Thornsbury believed Stevens was investigating him, and ordered Crum to frame him for the possession of an illegal wiretap, according to Stevens' lawsuit.
Crum and Rockel used information they knew was false, according to the lawsuit, to charge Stevens with wiretapping, conspiracy and attempting to possess an illegal wiretap.
After Stevens was arrested, he and Sparks signed a pretrial sentencing agreement - even though Sparks knew Stevens wasn't guilty of any crime, the lawsuit alleges. The agreement said the charges would be dropped if Stevens "ceased to operate a private investigation business principally in Mingo County."
Stevens agreed to the deal with Sparks because, he said, he knew he wouldn't get a fair trial.
Also, according to the lawsuit, Crum, who recently had been elected Mingo's sheriff, told Stevens that "he was not afraid of him." Days later, Stevens says, he was assaulted by two men in his home and warned to get out of Mingo County.
The settlement doesn't require any of the defendants to admit to the allegations.
Stevens told the Gazette-Mail on Thursday that the settlement proves that he never should have been charged with a crime.
"I wasn't doing any kind of investigation whatsoever," he said. "At this point, the settlement is what it is, but the whole point, for me and my wife, wasn't about money; it was about proving that I was innocent."
Sparks and Thornsbury were sentenced to prison last year after admitting to allegations involving another man, George White.
Thornsbury pleaded guilty to conspiring to deprive White of his constitutional rights, a felony, while Sparks pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge of actually violating White's rights.
As part of a deal with prosecutors, Thornsbury and Sparks agreed to step down as judge and prosecutor, respectively, and to never run for office again.
Thornsbury is still serving a 50-month prison sentence. Sparks was released from prison in August, after serving a year.
Crum was shot to death in April 2013 in downtown Williamson. James Smith was appointed to take his place as sheriff after Crum's widow, Rosie, stepped down as interim sheriff.
Rockel left his position as chief of the Williamson Police Department and joined the Sheriff's Department after Eugene Crum's death while his widow was sheriff. He was fired by Smith.
Reach Kate White at kate.white@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @KateLWhite on Twitter.