Judge awards sex assault victim $1.5 million

Sep. 5--A former Vigo County parks employee responsible for the sexual assault of a woman he was supervising must pay her more than $1.5 million, a federal judge has ruled.

Judge James R. Sweeney II entered the order Tuesday against David Gray in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Terre Haute Division. It was first reported on Wednesday by The Indiana Lawyer.

The woman, listed as Jane Doe in court documents, was helping clean up at parks in November 2014 as part of court-ordered probation for a misdemeanor conviction.

Gray was accused of leading the woman into a restroom at Prairie Creek Park, locking the door and sexually assaulting her.

He was criminally charged with rape, criminal confinement and official misconduct. The rape charge was dropped as part of plea agreement, and Gray pleaded to the Level 5 felony confinement charge the Level 6 felony misconduct charge.

Per the plea agreement, Gray was sentenced by Vigo Superior Court Judge John Roach to three years on the confinement charge and one year on the misconduct charge. Gray was given credit for 532 days served: 44 in the Vigo County Jail, good-time credit of 15 days and 473 days of in-home detention. The balance of the sentence was suspended to formal probation, which Gray completed in October 2018.

The woman sued both Vigo County and Gray in federal court.

Vigo County was cleared of that lawsuit in District Court, with the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upholding the summary judgment in favor of the county, saying "nothing in the record would allow a trier of fact to find that Vigo County knew or should have known of the need to protect women in Doe's position from employees such as Gray."

Judge Sweeney conducted a hearing on damages on Jan. 8 of this year, with Jane Doe and her lawyers appearing. Gray failed to appear.

In the order entered Tuesday, the court said Gray must pay Jane Doe$750,000 in compensatory damages and $750,000 in punitive damages. Gray also was ordered to pay costs, including Jane Doe's attorney fees: $18,402 to the law firm of Keffer Barnhart LLP and $2,500 to Greg Bowes Legal Services PC, both of Indianapolis.

Sweeney wrote, "...the Court finds that an award of punitive damages is warranted to punish Gray for his horrific sexual assault of Doe. An award of punitive damages will serve as an expression of society's displeasure with Gray's reprehensible conduct against Doe and his abuse of a position of authority over park volunteers. An award of punitive damages will further serve to deter others from engaging in similar conduct."

___

(c)2019 The Tribune-Star (Terre Haute, Ind.)

Visit The Tribune-Star (Terre Haute, Ind.) at tribstar.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.