Spokane Sheriff\'s Sergeant Awarded $19.5 million by jury against Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich and Spokane County for defamation and race discrimination

"Spokane County has to pay a former Sheriff’s Office deputy and his wife $19.5 million in damages after a Superior Court jury on Friday determined he was wrongfully fired and defamed by Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich.

After a four-week trial, the Superior Court jury sided with Thurman on Friday and ordered Spokane County to pay him and his wife, Kaycie Thurman, $19.5 million. They deliberated for less than a day.

Jeff Thurman will receive $2.5 million for lost wages and $12 million for emotional damages. Kaycie Thurman will receive $5 million for emotional damages and loss of consortium.

Mary Schultz, Thurman’s attorney, said in an email Friday afternoon that the Thurmans received the damages they deserved.

'The tragedy of this is that one of this community’s best, most heroic, and most decorated law enforcement officers was removed from our community’s law enforcement team,” Schultz said. “As one deputy testified, our community is less safe without Sgt. Thurman on patrol, and in spite of the damages, that will remain sad for all of us.'

Schultz has argued that Knezovich misrepresented the results of the internal affairs investigation and shared an 'entirely false story to the media” during his 2019 news conference.'"

See Spokesman Review article 12/23/22