Former deputy loses suit over firing by Portsmouth Sheriff

NORFOLK

A fired deputy lost her lawsuit against Portsmouth Sheriff Bill Watson on Thursday, with a federal court jury deciding that she didn't prove that her dismissal was in retaliation for naming the sheriff in an earlier lawsuit.

The decision after two days of testimony and 83 minutes of deliberation angered the former deputy, Kerrie Briggs, who rebuffed an approach by Watson in the courtroom.

"I have nothing to say to you," Briggs told Watson, whose lawyer pulled him away.

"I wish her the best; I really do," Watson said later. "I wanted to shake her hand, but she was too upset."

Briggs, 31 and a single mother, had received a settlement in August 2007 in a previous sexual-

harassment lawsuit against Watson's predecessor, Gary Waters. Watson had supported Briggs' claim and, when he became sheriff in 2006, he rehired her. But she added his name to her lawsuit in his official capacity as office holder before the settlement was finalized.

Watson told The Virginian-Pilot in October 2006 that that move "would cost her her job." After the settlement was signed in August 2007, he transferred Briggs from serving papers during the day to jail duty, which involved night shifts that created child-care problems for her. She said that other deputies warned her that the sheriff was out to get her; she suffered anxiety-related health problems, and she was fired in January. She subsequently sued Watson, claiming that the transfer and the firing were retaliatory, thereby violating civil-rights law, and seeking $1.15 million in damages.

But a string of deputies testified that they either didn't say anything to Briggs, or passed along "rumors" without hearing the sheriff threaten anything firsthand.

Lt. Lee Cherry, commander of the sheriff's Community Enforcement Unit, said he called Briggs a "greedy bitch" during an informal breakfast gathering in a restaurant, a comment her lawsuit attributed to Watson.

The transfer, Watson's witnesses said, was to fulfill part of the settlement that called for Briggs to move to a job not funded in part by grants, so the potential pay would be higher. The jail job was the first to come open, they said.

Watson also rolled out testimony that Briggs falsified a jail log - a fireable offense by itself - allowed an inmate to make an after-hours call, and failed to properly report a criminal summons she received in a child-support case involving the father of her daughter. Briggs said that sometimes guards filled in the log before performing an action, such as disabling inmate phones at 10 p.m., and it was "possible" that she could get distracted and not do what she wrote down. She testified that it didn't happen that night, and that she didn't remember an inmate making such a call.

"The plaintiff didn't have the preponderance of the evidence to support her case" of retaliation, said juror Steven Broudy, a Virginia Beach pharmacist.

"Justice was not done," Briggs said outside the courtroom.

The termination effectively ended her law-enforcement career, she said. She's taking college classes, and working in a doctor's office.

Matthew Bowers, (757) 222-3893, matthew.bowers@pilotonline.com