A former Anne Arundel County police captain raped a department employee, but the woman cannot pursue her claim that he violated her civil rights because she did not file her lawsuit within the three-year time limit, a federal jury in Baltimore said yesterday.
The verdict left unanswered the question of whether the six men and two women on the jury believed the woman had repressed her memory of the January 1986 incident, and if she did, to what extent.
Memory repression was one of three crucial issues in the civil case. Lawyers for Don F. Ward, the 49-year-old former captain, argued that the woman lied so she could sue, even though the time limitation had expired.
The woman had sought $10 million in damages.
Both sides saw yesterday's decision as a victory.
"I feel vindicated that the jury believed I was raped by a police captain at that time," the 37-year-old woman said. "I'm disappointed that the time-limit issue wasn't looked at more favorably."
The verdict, which produced no monetary award, found Mr. Ward had used his position as commander of the police academy in Davidsonville to assault the woman. She claimed that he violated her civil rights and raped her in a women's bathroom at the academy.
"She has a moral victory. She was raped by an Anne Arundel County police officer," said John R. Greiber Jr., one of her lawyers.
Mr. Ward's attorney, Frederick P. Charleston, acknowledged that his client had sex with the woman, but said it was consensual.
"That was a he-said, she-said thing. They weren't going to give her any money, but they did feel sorry for her," he said. "I wanted my client to be totally vindicated. We'll take the win."
Mr. Charleston said he believes the woman knew Mr. Ward's invitation to meet him at the academy after hours wasn't for "official" purposes.
He said the only reason the jurors thought otherwise was because of the way U.S. District Judge Alexander Harvey II framed his instructions.
During the four-day trial the woman testified that she repressed the memory of the incident, but had flashbacks. A rape seminar in 1990 triggered her memory, she said.
However, conflicting trial testimony and other evidence indicated she initially knew what had happened and had sought tests for venereal diseases.
"It is unfortunate [the suit] wasn't filed in time," said Timothy D. Murnane, the woman's other attorney.
The issue of whether Anne Arundel County tolerated sexual harassment and assaults against female employees probably will not be heard because the verdict went against the woman, who is also suing the county in the incident.
County lawyers will ask to have her suit against county government dismissed, said assistant county attorney John F. Breads, who observed the trial.
The woman's former husband reported the incident to police internal affairs investigators in 1992. Mr. Ward retired from the department in April 1992, after three other women filed departmental complaints of sexual misconduct against him. He was not criminally charged in any of those cases.
"I am glad this is over," Mr. Ward said yesterday. "I'm glad I can get on with my life."