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Source: Tulsa World, Okla.迷你倉出租Jan. 12--The city of Tulsa has settled for $35,000 a lawsuit filed by a man who was freed from prison as a result of a federal investigation into corruption within the Tulsa Police Department, according to attorneys on both sides of the lawsuit.Bobby Wayne Haley Sr., 59, filed his complaint in Tulsa federal court in June 2010 after being released from prison, where he had served four years of a 22-year sentence in a federal cocaine case.Central to his claim was the allegation that Tulsa police officers coached an informant and improperly obtained warrants to search Haley's business and home on May 27, 2004.In December 2008, Haley filed a motion to vacate his sentence. In their response, prosecutors conceded that Haley's conviction should be vacated.Government attorneys took that position because they said an investigation into possible law enforcement corruption led to the discovery of credible evidence that former police officer Jeff Henderson had committed perjury in an unrelated jury trial and in Haley's case.On June 4, U.S. District Judge Tim Leonard found that Haley "presented sufficient evidence that, if believed by a jury, would support a finding of deliberate indifference to the need for training (of officers) on civil rights matters and for additional oversight of the search warrant process."Leonard wrote then "the city is therefore not entitled to summary judgment on plaintiff's Fourth Amendment search and seizure and malicious prosecution claims."A jury trial had been set to begin on Jan. 21. However, a settlement conference held on Friday by U.S. Magistrate Kimberly West resulted in the case being settled for $35,000, according to Haley attorney J. Derek Ingle and city of Tulsa litigation division manager Gerald Bender.Bender said the case was settled as a "business decision." Bender noted that even if a jury decided to only give Haley nominal damages, the city would have been responsible for paying his legal fees because he would have been regarded as the prevailing party in such a scenario. He also mentioned other expenses that a trial would have brought, such as the cost of bringing in exp迷你倉rt witnesses from other states.Leonard granted the city's motion for summary judgment in Haley's case on Sept. 7, 2012. However, the judge reopened the case Nov. 5, 2012.Ingle said in a written statement, "When we came into Mr. Haley's case at the 11th hour, it had already been dismissed. We were able to convince the court to partially reinstate the case. However, we were severely limited on the evidence we could present at trial, because Mr. Haley's former attorneys did not list some key witnesses and exhibits. Because of this and other reasons, Mr. Haley agreed to settlement."At least 17 lawsuits have been filed in federal or state court by people who claim that they were victimized by the sort of activity that was the subject of a grand jury probe into the Tulsa Police Department. The investigation resulted in charges against six current or former Tulsa police officers and an ex-federal agent, as well as accusations of criminal behavior against five officers who were not charged.The city has been dismissed as a party from several of those civil cases but has now settled three others.Last month, it agreed to pay $300,000 to settle its part of a lawsuit filed by Larita Barnes.Barnes, 37, had filed her case Aug. 6, 2010, slightly more than a year after she was freed from custody.She was convicted in April 2008 of two drug charges and was sentenced in October 2008 to 10 years in prison but was freed July 2, 2009, as a result of a court order.In August, the city settled for $50,000 a lawsuit brought by Demario T. Harris, who had been convicted in Tulsa federal court in April 2005 of possession of cocaine base with intent to distribute and being a felon in possession of a firearm.Harris, 33, was sentenced in November 2005 to life in prison but was ordered freed in October 2010. The order vacating his sentence noted that the prosecution conceded that Harris' "conviction was obtained in violation of the defendant's due process rights."David Harper 918-581-8359david.harper@tulsaworld.comCopyright: ___ (c)2014 Tulsa World (Tulsa, Okla.) Visit Tulsa World (Tulsa, Okla.) at .tulsaworld.com Distributed by MCT Information Servicesmini storage