A Pierce County jury on Wednesday awarded $32,500 in damages to a woman who claimed her rights were violated when a sheriff’s sergeant allowed her estranged husband – a sheriff’s detective – to enter her home to collect some personal belongings five years ago.

Krista Osborne also sought a monetary judgement against the county, arguing that the Sheriff’s Department had not done enough to train and supervise Sgt. Tom Seymour or detective Lloyd Bird.

While jurors agreed with that contention, they decided it had no bearing on Seymour’s and Bird’s actions and ordered the county to pay no damages.

Osborne’s attorneys had argued their client deserved more than $500,000 in all.

The jury heard about two weeks of testimony before getting the case Tuesday. It deliberated until about 2 p.m. Wednesday before rendering its verdicts.

Kitsap County Judge Sally Olsen presided over the case instead of a Pierce County judge to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.

Olsen ruled early on in the case that Seymour had violated Osborne’s Fourth Amendment rights on July 28, 2004, when he allowed Bird to enter the University Place home he once shared with Osborne to collect some of his clothes and other items. The couple since has divorced.

It was the jury’s job to determine how much money Osborne should receive for that violation by Seymour. The answer: $2,500 in compensatory damages and another $15,000 in punitive damages.

The county is responsible for paying those damages because Seymour was on-duty the day of the violation, deputy prosecutor Ronald Williams said.

The jury also decided that Bird, who was off-duty that day, trespassed when he entered the house in violation of a protection order Osborne had gotten after she alleged he’d thrown a telephone at her a day or two before.

Jurors decided he should pay $15,000 in damages.

The jury rejected Osborne’s contention that Bird’s actions were outrageous and that he had interfered with her employment. Osborne, a former law enforcement officer now working in the private sector, had claimed Bird accessed her personal e-mail account to send damaging notes to her superiors.

Williams said the county might appeal the judgement against Seymour because it may make the county liable for covering Osborne’s legal fees.

Darrell Cochran, who represented Osborne along with attorney Fred Diamondstone, said he hoped the punitive damages against Seymour would deter other deputies from committing similar violations.

Adam Lynn: 253-597-8644 adam.lynn@thenewstribune.com blogs.thenewstribune.com/crime