A settlement has been reached in Cal Harris’ malicious prosecution lawsuit against Tioga County officials and the county’s former district attorney, but not the remaining defendants.
The federal lawsuit, which was filed one year after a fourth murder trial resulting in Harris’ acquittal, claimed civil right violations and malicious prosecution in the 15-year legal saga over the 2001 disappearance of Harris’ estranged wife, Michele Harris.
Michele Harris’ remains have never been found.
What the lawsuit claims
The lawsuit points to what Harris’ legal team called “largely circumstantial evidence” gathered by the prosecution and alleges witnesses were groomed by the prosecution to give false testimony.
Harris argued in the claim Tioga County officials, New York State Police and witnesses deprived him of civil liberties by misrepresenting facts of the murder case throughout the four trials.
Settlement reached in Cal Harris lawsuit
According to a letter sent to the court by Harris’ attorney Bruce Barket on Aug. 13, a settlement was reached between Harris, Tioga County and former Tioga County District Attorney Gerald Keene. The case against them will no longer be headed to trial.
The terms of the settlement are confidential, Barket said on Sept. 26, but the monetary value received in the agreement was “sufficient.”
Tioga County and Keene’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
As of the Aug. 13 letter, no settlement has been reached between Harris and the remaining defendants in the lawsuit − New York State Police Investigators Steven Anderson and Susan Mulvey and Barbara Thayer, a former babysitter for the four Harris children who testified during the 2015 trial.
What happens next
A trial date for the remaining parties involved in the lawsuit is scheduled to begin Oct. 27 in Albany.
Keene, along with about 10 unidentified Tioga County employees and 10 unidentified state police employees, will still be called as a witnesses during the upcoming trial, according to Barket.
During the course of four murder trials in two counties, the prosecution’s case argued Cal Harris killed Michele Harris as a final act of control in their divorce proceeding and then hid her body, leaving behind millimeter-sized blood spatter stains in their Spencer home after cleaning up the rest.
Harris was convicted twice of second-degree murder — both were overturned — and spent more than three years in prison. A third jury trial ended in a deadlock, then a fourth trial’s presiding judge found him not guilty.
Harris and his legal team announced a $100,000 reward for information in the case in May. Four months later, New York State Police announced on Sept. 10 they would be conducting additional searches for evidence in the case.
This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: Part of a federal malicious prosecution lawsuit filed by Cal Harris has been settled
Reporting by Jillian McCarthy, Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin / Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
