It started with three words: “They raped me.”
David Meehan’s disclosures to his wife seven years ago sparked an unprecedented criminal investigation into New Hampshire’s state-run youth detention center, built in the 1850s as a “house of reform.” It is now called the Sununu Youth Services Center, after the current governor’s father, former Governor John H. Sununu.
Eleven former state employees have faced criminal charges, and dozens more are accused in about 1,200 lawsuits filed by former residents against the state alleging six decades of abuse. Mr Meehan’s original lawsuit, filed four years ago, will be heard this week.
‘Quiet on the Set’ participant Drake Bell explains past guilty plea to child endangerment
“It’s kind of heartwarming to know that I helped other people find the strength to tell the truth about their experiences,” Meehan told The Associated Press in 2021. “But at the same time, it hurts in a way.” I can’t explain it because I know so many others have been through the same thing as me. ”
Meehan was originally the lead plaintiff in the class action lawsuit, which was later dismissed by a judge. Now, his personal case is the first to go to trial, with other cases expected to begin later this year. Jury selection in Rockingham County Superior Court is expected to be completed Tuesday morning, followed by opening arguments.
The trial is expected to last several weeks and is the most public display yet of the unusual power dynamics in which the state attorney general’s office is simultaneously prosecuting perpetrators and defending the state against charges brought in civil lawsuits. It will be. While one team of state attorneys seeks to discredit Mr. Meehan, another team plans to prosecute former employees based on Mr. Meehan’s testimony in a future criminal trial.
On January 10, David Meehan, the lead plaintiff in a class action lawsuit accusing the state of New Hampshire of covering up decades of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse at a juvenile detention center in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, announced Seen outside a lawyer’s office in Portsmouth, state. , 2020. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)
“This case and the criminal case are inextricably linked,” Judge Andrew Schulman wrote last month. “Some of the evidence in this case came from a criminal investigation. In deciding what course to take in either venue, the Attorney General weighs the facts in two piles: civil and criminal. It is impossible to separate it into two.”
Meehan was 14 years old when she was sent to what was then called the Youth Development Center in Manchester in 1995. Over the next three years, he claims he was routinely beaten hundreds of times, raped, and held in solitary confinement for several months. One worker, who abused him almost daily, initially gained his trust by giving him snacks and arranging for him to play basketball with local high school students, according to the complaint. He accused other workers of standing guard or holding him down during the assault, and when he told his boss how he was left with a black eye and a split lip, the man cut him off. He said, “Look, that’s not going to happen.” . ”
The lawsuit seeks at least $1.9 million in past and future lost earnings, as well as compensation for pain and suffering, permanent disability and loss of quality of life. The state accuses Meehan of violating its duty to act in his best interests and failing to hire, train and supervise employees, enabling the abuse.
The state denies these claims and maintains that it is not responsible for the intentional criminal acts of “rogue” officials. The state also disputes the nature, scope, and severity of Meehan’s injuries, alleging that Meehan contributed to them and that some of the physical abuse at issue was due to “maintaining good order and discipline.” “The exemption was granted as necessary.”
The state also argues that Meehan waited too long to come forward. The statute of limitations for such lawsuits in New Hampshire is three years from the date of the injury, but there are exceptions if the victim had no knowledge of the injury or the connection to the perpetrator.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
On the criminal side, the statute of limitations for child sexual assault is until the victim is 40 years old. Ten men have been charged with sexually assaulting, or being an accomplice to, more than 10 teenagers at Manchester Detention Center since 1994. An 11th man is charged with crimes related to a pretrial facility in Concord. The first criminal trial was scheduled to begin this month, but a judge last week postponed the trial to August.
Judge Schulman, who is overseeing Meehan’s trial, said the charges do not add any credibility to Meehan’s case. He warned Mr Meehan’s lawyers to stick to the facts.
“This is a lawsuit, not a Manichean battle between light and dark,” he wrote last month. “An appeal to unwarranted passion rings like a bell that cannot be rung, and is the stuff of miscarriage of justice.”
