The jury returned a verdict in Kimberly Winters' favour after just five days of deliberations. The woman will receive $5 million in compensation for allegations made against her in November 2018 by a former student and her arrest by Sheriff deputy Peter Roque.
Police alleged Winters had had sex with the teenager on several occasions in 2017. In February 2019, all charges against the former teacher were dropped as the prosecution failed to produce any convincing evidence.
Although most of the investigation was not carried out, according to her attorneys, charges were still brought against Winters and she was arrested.
"After the arrest they did everything they should have done before the arrest," Winters lawyer Thomas Plofchan told the Washington Post. He said Roque admitted to charging his client "without doing any investigation."
The jury ordered the former teacher to be paid the large sum of money as the actions of the state police had caused her severe emotional and professional distress. Winters said the charges had "ruined her life" and irreparably damaged her reputation as an educator, as the trial against her was widely reported in the media and she herself was subjected to an arrest and humiliating search.
"The moment that I was arrested I got basically blacklisted from everyone at school, all of my friends, all of my group chats with teachers," Winters told US media. "I didn't feel safe in my community. I couldn't go outside, or go to church. They all thought I was guilty. No one gave me the benefit of the doubt. It was horrible."
The sheriff's department plans on filing an appeal to the lawsuit judgement, according to reports.
"There are hard decisions to make and sometimes you get them wrong and you don't want to, but that doesn't mean you're malicious," Roque's lawyer, Andrew Francuzenko reportedly said. "What she's going through is because of her relationship with [the former student]. Not because of Peter Roque."