Published by the Charleston Gazette, Aug 22 2021. Reprinted here.
Sexual assault case
involving Clay Sheriff's deputy settles for $825K
By Joe Severino
joe.severino@hdmediallc.com
It began with an ex-Clay County deputy’s lewd remarks to a court
clerk, escalated to groping and ended with an $825,000 settlement —
equal to more than half the county’s current annual budget.
A federal sexual harassment and assault lawsuit filed against the
former deputy and the offices of the county circuit clerk and
sheriff depicts Michael Patrick Morris becoming steadily more
aggressive starting in fall 2018 in pursuit of a clerk who spurned
his relentless advances. In a response filing, Morris denied the
suit’s claims.
“I will f- — you in the backseat of your truck,” Morris told the
clerk, according to the 10-page complaint filed in June 2020.
“Let me see your [breasts],” the deputy said.
“What time will your husband be home?” he said. “I will come over
tonight.”
In 2019, according to the suit, Morris got physical. He slapped Jill
O’Brien’s buttocks, shoved his hand down the front of her shirt and
threw a piece of chocolate there, vowing to retrieve it. He trailed
her truck in a county cruiser in March, flashing the lights. After
she pulled over, Morris walked to the driver’s side window and told
her how “f---able” she was, according to the complaint.
He followed her on other occasions with the cruiser’s police strobes
flashing, but she did not stop.
Neither did the deputy, according to the complaint. He blocked her
“in her office, refusing to let her leave.” He seized a belt loop
“and tried to put his hands down her pants.”
On July 9, 2019, Morris approached O’Brien’s desk, “called her a
‘bitch’ and then tried to touch her breasts under her clothing,”
according to the complaint. On Aug. 5, 2019, he entered the circuit
clerk’s office and told her to look at his phone.
“It was a picture of [Morris] in full uniform with his pants
unzipped and his penis in hand,” the lawsuit reads.
When she advised she didn’t want to see the picture, Morris grabbed
her by her pants and shoved his hand down the back. In a separate
incident, he entered the clerk’s office, found O’Brien and grabbed
her crotch.
O’Brien complained to her boss, Clay County Circuit Clerk Michael
Asbury, in August 2019. She also spoke to the Chief Deputy Ryan
Thomas, who replied, “There are always two sides to a story,”
according to the suit.
Thomas warned Morris “that if the allegations were true, they needed
to stop.”
The abuse halted while Morris attended the State Police Academy for
mandatory officer training, the suit said. But in the spring, he
returned. In April 2020, he kicked her chair in the clerk’s office,
grabbed his crotch and told her “she needed it.”
Roughly a week later, O’Brien filed a petition for a personal safety
order. After learning Clay County Magistrate Judge Jeffery Boggs had
approved the order, Absury “stuck his finger in [O’Brien’s] face and
threatened her if she ever filed a lawsuit against him,” according
to the lawsuit. Asbury is named in the complaint.
Allen King, who took over as county sheriff in January, declined to
comment. Former Sheriff Donald Triplett Jr., who led the agency
during the time frame depicted in the lawsuit, resigned for personal
reasons in May 2020. Former Sheriff Randy Holcomb, who temporarily
took over for Triplett and is now chief deputy, did not return a
request for comment. An employee at the clerk’s office said Asbury
was out of the office last week and unavailable to comment.
Lawyers for Morris, Asbury and the Sheriff’s Office did not respond
to requests for comment.
King said Morris no longer works for the Sheriff’s Office. He did
not elaborate.
On June 18, almost a year after the filing of the initial complaint,
O’Brien and her lawyer filed a notice of their intent to introduce
additional evidence against Morris involving another four women who
would testify in court.
One would testify Morris repeatedly touched her breasts and tried to
remove her bra, tried to touch her through her pants and once
entered her home and forced himself on her. Another would testify
that after she ignored his sexual advances, Morris “pinned her
against a wall and twisted her hand behind her back. He then entered
her place of business and pointed a gun in her face.”
Still another woman would testify Morris trailed her in a cruiser
with his lights on. A fourth would say in court Morris told her to
“deny, deny, deny” any sexual activities he had with her.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Johnston dismissed the case 11 days after
the filing of the notice because both sides had agreed to a
settlement, signed Aug. 6.
O’Brien remains employed at the circuit clerk’s office.
“It takes bravery on the part of a woman in circumstances such as
this to come forward and make these allegations, and Jill O’Brien
did that,” said Charleston attorney Mark Atkinson, who represented
O’Brien. “Hopefully her bravery will prevent this from happening to
other women in the future.”
Joe Severino is an enterprise reporter. He
can be reached at 304-348-4814 or joe.severino@hdmediallc.com.
Follow @jj_severino on Twitter.
Here's
the complete court document.
Additional documents making public other
potential victims.
Settlement
Agreement, Complete