We were disturbed to learn a week ago yesterday that the federal court case Lawrenceville businessman James Brunson filed against public officials in Lawrence County and the city of Bridgeport was dismissed in part after a federal magistrate, Nancy Rosenstengal, granted a Motion for Summary Judgment as filed by former Lawrence County prosecutor Lisa Wade.
This doesn’t mean Brunson lost the case in total; however, his options against Wade—who, he claimed, had committed the violation against him of False Arrest in his August 2010 local case—are not completely off the table. What will happen next remains to be seen; as well, Brunson did get judgments in his favor in the federal case shortly before publication of the current (July-August 2014) edition.
To learn what those were, and to catch up on what’s been happening in this very significant case out of Lawrence County and in the federal court venue, we now present your mid-day Read the Lead, Four-year ordeal ends, recounting the events leading up to the latest in the case:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jamie Brunson…exonerated
LAWRENCE CO.—An Aggravated Battery case filed against a Lawrenceville businessman in 2010 has ended in a nolle prosequi filing in Lawrence County circuit court.
The case, filed by former Lawrence County prosecutor Lisa Wade August 10, 2010, came to a quiet conclusion on the morning of Friday, July 18, after Lawrence’s current prosecutor Chris Quick made good on a statement he’d issued in early December 2012, shortly after he’d taken office: That if he’d been prosecutor at the time, he’d have never filed the charge against James A. Brunson following an altercation between Brunson, 42, and one Jody Harshman, 39, after Harshman was caught by Brunson busting out the glass at Brunson’s Bridgeport business, Bridgeport Package.
What makes the dismissal significant isn’t just the extended (and unusual) period of time the case languished in court; and it isn’t just that it should already have been dismissed.
It’s that now, upon dismissal, the entire situation leans toward the argument that what Wade did in 2010 equates to “false arrest”…and this will have a direct impact on the federal civil lawsuit Brunson filed against Wade, along with now-imprisoned former Bridgeport mayor Max Schauf, Harshman, and a host of other entities, which suit is inching toward its own conclusion with recent default judgments in Brunson’s favor…and a jury trial, possibly this year, in which Brunson is requesting extensive damages as a result of the corruption he says caused his arrest to begin with.
Willoughby convicted, sentenced
As reported in the July Special Edition, the pressure in Brunson’s case increased when it was discovered that an employee, Elizabeth Willoughby of New Albany, Indiana, had stolen lottery tickets from the package store.
Willoughby, 20, was charged with Retail Theft over $300 and jailed, and an ongoing investigation into a much larger amount of cash it was alleged she had taken from the drawer was launched…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To read the rest of this in-depth article, click the headline link above the excerpt if you have an online membership to the e-Edition; or, if you don’t have a membership, simply click this link here to get yours started! But if you’d like to hold a paper in your hands, pick one up at one of our many vendors throughout southern Illinois, including in Lawrence County Jim’s Guns between Lawrenceville and Bridgeport, and in Bridgeport, Lou’s Restaurant; also in neighboring Crawford County, hit up Maxwell House in Flat Rock; and in neighboring Wabash County, CJ’s in Allendale. Hurry…this one’s off the stands in less than TWO WEEKS, when we make room for the August-September edition!