Man suing judge, state for wrongful imprisonment

ANDERSON, IND. -- An Anderson man who claims he spent more than a year in prison after the Indiana Court of Appeals ordered him released is suing a judge and state correction officials for wrongful imprisonment.\nLance Dawson's lawsuit, filed last week in Marion Superior Court, names the Indiana Department of Corrections and Madison Superior Court 3 Judge Thomas Newman Jr.\nIt seeks seeking punitive and compensatory damages for Dawson's time spent behind bars.\nThe lawsuit claims Newman, the DOC and DOC employees should have released Dawson, 33, from prison after the Indiana Court of Appeals ordered his release in 2001.\nHe claims his equal protection rights, due process rights and his Eighth Amendment rights barring cruel and unusual punishment were violated.\nThe lawsuit names Newman based on administrative actions of the court and not as judge. Judges in Indiana are immune from civil litigation.\nThe office of Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter is representing the DOC and Newman in the lawsuit. Stacey Snyder, a spokeswoman for Carter, said she could not comment on the lawsuit.\nThe complaint contends that Dawson pleaded guilty in 1990 to criminal charges and was given a six-year suspended sentence by Newman and placed on three years probation.\nA notice of probation violation was filed against Dawson in September 1992 with two hearings continued at the request of the state and a third continued in 1993 at Dawson's request.\nThe lawsuit states that no new hearing date was set and that Dawson left the state. In 2000, the state filed an amended probation violation notice contending that Dawson violated his probation when new criminal charges were filed in 1998 and 2000.\nIn October 2000, Newman revoked Dawson's probation and sentenced him to six years. An appeal was filed with the Indiana Court of Appeals, which ruled in July 2001 that the lower court improperly revoked Dawson's probation and ordered him immediately released.\nDawson was finally released Sept. 6, 2002, his lawsuit states.\n"Somehow he slipped through the cracks and now no one wants to take responsibility," said Dawson's attorney, Michael Sutherlin.