Michigan jury awards nearly $60M to man who said his rights were violated by prosecutor

DETROIT (AP) — A jury awarded nearly $60 million Tuesday to a man who accused a disgraced Michigan prosecutor and a police officer of violating his rights in filing sexual abuse charges in a case that was ultimately dismissed by the state attorney general.

It is extremely rare for a prosecutor to be successfully sued for his or her actions because of broad immunity protections in law.

Brian Kolodziej and state police Lt. David Busacca acted “intentionally, deliberately or with reckless disregard for the truth” in pursuing charges against Sean MacMaster, the jury said.

The jury awarded $33 million in lost wages, pain and suffering and damage to MacMaster’s reputation, in addition to $25 million in punitive damages for conduct done with “malice or in reckless disregard” of his rights.

“The truth has come out, and the jury saw the pain and suffering that he was put through at the hands of people with immense power,” MacMaster’s attorney, Josh Blanchard, told The Associated Press.

Kolodziej was a Michigan assistant attorney general whose career crashed in 2019 when it was revealed that he was having a romantic relationship with a woman in a sexual assault case under his control. He pleaded no contest to willful neglect of duty and surrendered his law license. Besides the improper relationship, a judge said he had altered documents.

Attorney General Dana Nessel at the time said she was “horrified” and “disgusted.”

The MacMaster case was a separate but related matter. MacMaster’s lawyers said Kolodziej pursued sex charges against him in an effort to impress and get close to a woman who was related to MacMaster’s former wife. The MacMasters were in a contentious child custody battle.

MacMaster was a high-ranking police officer for Duval County, Florida, schools in 2019 when he was charged in Michigan with sexually abusing a child — allegations he adamantly denied. Kolodziej, with Busacca’s help, pursued the case, although authorities in Oakland County had earlier investigated and found no merit.

MacMaster was in solitary confinement in jail for months before Nessel dropped the case against him and his stepfather, citing “serious violations of our prosecutorial standards.”

Outside the Detroit federal courtroom, MacMaster was in tears Tuesday as he relayed news of the jury’s verdict to friends by phone.

“The amount of money and destruction it’s caused my family — it’s been devastating,” MacMaster said, referring to the humiliation of being charged in 2019. “I no longer have a relationship with my daughter because of it. I’ve lost friends.”

The result of the trial, he added, gives “my reputation back to me a little bit by saying they did not have probable cause to arrest me. There were a lot of lies and everything out there.”

Kolodziej and Busacca declined to comment about the verdict. Kolodziej represented himself during the trial, telling jurors it was “embarrassing” to inform them that he was forced to resign as a state prosecutor six years ago.

“But it has absolutely nothing to do with the facts of this case supporting probable cause for an arrest warrant and a search warrant,” Kolodziej said in his opening remarks.

Busacca’s attorney told the jury that his actions were supervised by others and that he was a road patrol trooper on the midnight shift in 2019 while working with Kolodziej.

“David Busacca’s not going out on a limb here to help Brian Kolodziej get a girlfriend,” Audrey Forbush said.