Civil suit against Curry set for trial next week

PORTALES — A civil lawsuit aimed at Curry County and its board of commissioners is set for trial next week in Clovis.

Weston Peasnall, a former officer of the county’s Adult Detention Center, seeks more than $60,000 in damages for violation of the Whistleblower Protection Act. He alleges he was retaliated against for attempting to correct a report regarding the strip search of a detainee, said his attorney Eric Dixon.

In July 2014, Peasnall “was a witness to unjustified use of force” involving a tazer gun during a search at the jail, records show. He faced demotion and “continuous harassment” to the point of quitting his job the next month when he asked to amend the incident report related to the strip search, according to the complaint filed in 2015.

The county denies the allegations, its defense attorney Bryan Evans said Tuesday in court.

The alleged excessive force of the search is the subject of a separate civil lawsuit. Dixon said Tuesday that case still needs to be set for trial.

Evans wants to keep the matter of the search and the alleged WPA violation separate. He succeeded Tuesday in efforts to prevent a video from the tazing to be played before jurors during the WPA trial.

“What happened in the tazing incident is irrelevant to Mr. Peasnall’s claim,” Evans said Tuesday. “When (the jury) see(s) something as dramatic as the tazing video, it’s going to be hard to, as they say, unring the bell.”

Judge Donna Mowrer agreed, noting its inclusion in the trial would be “more prejudicial than probative.”

She also approved Evans’ motions to limit the scope of testimony from some of Dixon’s witnesses in the interest of keeping the trial from including “mini trials” on background or auxiliary matters of previous jail practices and work conditions.

Jury selection is scheduled for Monday, with additional motions on witness testimony to be considered Tuesday afternoon and trial to run Wednesday through Friday in Curry County, with Mowrer presiding.

Dixon said he feels “very good and very confident” in advance of the proceedings. Evans declined additional comment.