Published: Sunday, October 5, 2008 Judge: NH prison guards can keep $2m award

CONCORD (AP) – Two state prison guards fired after their co-workers misrepresented their roles in a prison assault can keep the $2 million a jury awarded them in May, a judge has ruled.

The state attorney general's office is now deciding whether to appeal to the state Supreme Court.

Kevin Leonard, a lawyer for the two guards, said an appeal would be irresponsible to taxpayers because the state must add nearly $10,000 a month in interest for each month it delays paying the guards.

Leonard said the state already owes his clients $230,000 in interest, and added that an appeal could take months.

In 2006, Tim Hallam and Joseph Laramie sued two fellow state prison guards for giving false accounts of their roles in a 2005 assault of an inmate. Hallam, Laramie and their two accusers were among those who responded when the inmate became belligerent, according to court records.

The inmate accused prison guards Todd Connor and Shawn Stone of assaulting him. But when a prison investigator interviewed the inmate and the guards involved, everyone gave a different account of what had happened. The investigation resulted in the firings of Hallam and Laramie.

In 2006, an appeals board found in favor of Hallam and Laramie without hearing the prison's side of the case. The board reinstated both men, after which Hallam and Laramie sued their two co-workers. ...

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