Leon County Sheriff’s Office Logo, Leon County Sheriff, LCSO Tuesday, May 14, 2019
The Leon County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) has been ordered to pay more than $250,000 to a local man who was wrongfully arrested by deputies in 2018.
The unanimous vote by a Tallahassee jury said LCSO Deputy James Dills did not have probable cause to restrain Miles Evora, 51, and that the deputies’ actions caused Evora damages.
In total, Evora, a father of six children who is a local barber, was awarded $269,810.
Evora’s attorney’s Ryan Molaghan and Paul Aloise, both of Tallahassee and the Brooks LeBoeuf law firm, said they “are extremely grateful for the jury’s attentiveness throughout the trial.”
“The verdict in this case is the culmination of Mr. Evora’s long journey for vindication and we’re very happy he was able to get the justice he deserved,” they said in a statement to the Democrat.
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On Dec. 18, 2018, Evora was driving north on Janet Drive in Tallahassee when he was pulled over by Dills for rolling through a stop sign, which Evora denies, according to court records.
After receiving permission, Dills and a fellow deputy, Scott Littlefield, searched his car where they found a white substance on the floorboard.
Leon County Sheriff’s Office Logo, Leon County Sheriff, LCSO Tuesday, May 14, 2019
Dills said he believed it was crack cocaine “based on (his) training and experience,” in his initial arrest affidavit and written narrative of the incident.
He continued: “I was able to retrieve a piece of the substance which upon a closer look, confirmed my suspicion and belief that the substance was crack cocaine.”
Dills later said it tested positive for crack cocaine by a “field test” of which there is no record.
Once the deputies gathered the…
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