Durham refused to pay judgment against officer. Why the city just paid him thousands.

The city of Durham paid retired police Capt. Darrell Dowdy $350,000 to settle a lawsuit that accused city officials of abandoning him after losing a lawsuit linked to wrongful murder convictions.

In that case, a jury ordered Dowdy to pay $6 million for a faulty investigation that resulted in a man spending nearly 24 years incarcerated, according to Dowdy’s attorney.

Dowdy, who retired in 2007, settled with the city around April, attorney Tom Comerford confirmed. The city also agreed to pay Howard nearly $8 million, The News & Observer has revealed.

After the city refused to pay the settlement, Dowdy faced threats to foreclose on his home and other potential actions to recoup some of the money. “It was just a very difficult time for Capt. Dowdy,” Comerford said.

The settlements mark an end to a decades-long case that goes back to Darryl Howard’s 1995 double murder and arson conviction.

Howard spent nearly 24 years of his 80-year sentence behind bars after being convicted of the second-degree murders of Doris Washington and her 13-year-old daughter Nishonda.

Howard’s sentence was cut short in 2016 after lawyers from the Innocence Project took his case and helped get his convictions overturned, citing police and prosecutorial misconduct.

Then, in 2021, Howard’s attorneys convinced a federal jury that Dowdy fabricated evidence and inadequately investigated the murders. The jury ordered Dowdy to pay Howard $6 million.

After the civil trial, city officials said they wouldn’t pay the judgment on Dowdy’s behalf or Howard’s attorneys’ fees, which had reached about $4 million with interest, according to interviews and court documents.

The move was a first for the city, City Attorney Kimberly Rehberg has said, as it was the first time that a jury has determined that an officer acted in bad faith.

Senior Assistant City Attorney John Roseboro didn’t immediately respond to questions about the settlements.

Critics of the decision not to pay, which includes Howard and Dowdy, say it was wrong for the city to spend millions on attorneys fees defending the officer and then abandon him after the judgment

Dowdy has maintained that he did an adequate investigation of the murders. His 2023 lawsuit said city officials used him as a “pawn” in the litigation, despite his 28 years of working for the city. Dowdy retired in 2007.

“Rather than protect him, as it promised to do and is required to do, the City has abandoned and turned its back on its officer,” Dowdy’s lawsuit states.

Comerford also pointed out that police officials lost key pieces of evidence in the case, which complicated the case against Dowdy as he had to testify in 2021 to events that had happened nearly 30 years before.

The city’s conduct resulted in Dowdy suffering depression, anxiety, embarrassment and severe emotional distress as the judgment threatened to drive him into bankruptcy, his lawsuit states.

“Essentially forfeiting all he has worked for and accumulated in a lifetime of services as a police officer,” the lawsuit states.

Virginia Bridges covers criminal justice in the Triangle and across North Carolina for The News & Observer. Her work is produced with financial support from the nonprofit The Just Trust. The N&O maintains full editorial control of its journalism.