Jury awards Indiana family $31 million in suit against DCS, State Police

The state has been ordered to pay more than $31 million to an Indiana family "destroyed" by wrongful accusations that the parents caused their 14-year-old daughter's death.

On Tuesday, a federal court jury determined that three Indiana Department of Child Services employees, an Indiana State Police detective and a doctor had violated the constitutional rights of Roman and Lynnette Finnegan and their children. The officials were accused of falsifying records, sabotaging investigations into what happened and retaliating against the couple for complaining about how they were treated.

The lawsuit named Laurel Myers, then-director of the DCS office in Pulaski County; Regina McAninch, a former DCS family case manager; Reba James, then a DCS regional manager; Jennifer McDonald, an Indiana State Police detective; and Dr. Antoinette Laskey, a pediatrician and former chair of the Indiana State Child Fatality Review Team. The lawsuit also named two other DCS officials, who were cleared of wrongdoing.

Lynnette Finnegan's 14-year-old daughter, Jessica Salyer, died at home in 2005 from "a major prescription error" made by her family doctor "combined with her medical conditions, which included congenital heart disease and a seizure disorder," according to the lawsuit filed in 2008.

DCS and State Police suspected Lynnette and Roman Finnegan of killing the girl, court records state. DCS removed two of the Finnegans' other children from their home, State Police arrested the couple, and the prosecutor charged them with neglect.

After a yearslong ordeal, the criminal charges were dismissed and a judge unsubstantiated the allegations of neglect. But the Finnegans' attorneys said the damage was already done.

"To lose a child is about the most traumatic event any human being can experience," attorney Ron Waicukauski said. "But then to be accused of killing that child, to be stigmatized in the community as the killer of that child, for the other children to be taken away, to be arrested and taken to jail for that?"

Waicukauski said Roman Finnegan, the girl's stepfather, was suspended from work, and the couple lost their income, their home and their reputations. Relationships within the family were "severely damaged and, to some extent, remain damaged to this day," he added.

"The DCS essentially took an incredible tragedy and made it worse," said attorney Richard Waples, who also represented the Knox family.

DCS spokesman James Wide referred all questions to the Indiana attorney general's office, which represented state officials in the lawsuit.

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Bryan Corbin, spokesman for the Indiana attorney general's office, said state officials "acted reasonably under the circumstances, based on the information available to them at the time, and consistent with the state’s duty to protect children and enforce laws for public safety."

Corbin pointed out that the jury awarded the family $70 million less than what the Finnegans' attorneys had asked for. He said the attorney general's office, which represents state government in about 2,700 civil lawsuits per year, is considering whether to appeal the verdict or seek a reduction in the monetary award.

Waples said vindication was more important to the Finnegans than money.

"They wanted the jury to hear the truth of what happened," he said.

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Call Star reporter Marisa Kwiatkowski at (317) 444-6135. Follow her on Twitter: @IndyMarisaK.