eBook details
- Title: Crowe v. Lucas
- Author : Fifth Circuit United States Court Of Appeals
- Release Date : January 22, 1979
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 55 KB
Description
In June of 1973, Milburn J. Crowe was defeated in his bid for reelection to the Board of Aldermen of the City of Mound Bayou, Mississippi. Accepting Crowes assertions of election fraud, the Circuit Court of Bolivar County, Mississippi, subsequently declared the election null and void. Contending that the effect of the Circuit Court order was to reinstate him as an alderman for lack of a duly elected successor, Crowe attended the Mound Bayou Aldermens meetings of November 6, 1973, December 4, 1973, and August 6, 1974, and attempted to vote and take part in the debate. At each of those meetings, the Mayor and the other members of the Board ordered Crowes arrest on a charge of disturbing the peace. On December 21, 1974, at 2:00 a. m., the assistant police chief of Mound Bayou, Oliver Knox Anderson, arrested Crowe for violating a city ordinance that required persons operating public facilities to use water provided by the City. The arrest was made under a warrant issued by Harold Ward, who had defeated Crowe in the aldermanic election which was declared void and who was acting in the capacity of Municipal Judge. The record here shows that Crowes water service had been terminated because of his failure to pay his water bills and that, on the day of his arrest, he had been pumping water to his restaurant from a nearby well. Although he was taken to the Mound Bayou jail and required to post a bond at the time the arrests were made, Crowe was never brought to trial on any of the charges. Crowe filed a suit in federal district court alleging that various city officials had conspired to deprive him of his civil rights. The jury rendered a verdict against defendants Earl S. Lucas, the Mayor of Mound Bayou; Harold Ward, the alderman who also served as a Municipal Judge; Alfred Thompson, the Chief of Police; and the Assistant Chief of Police Anderson, awarding $5,000 in compensatory damages and $5,000 in punitive damages.