Lawsuit continues despite grand jury’s clearing of deputies in raid

Wednesday, July 1, 1998 | 9:21 a.m.

The grand jury, in a June 23 report, said the Carson City Sheriff's Department's special operations team didn't unlawfully hit or cause the death of Philip Maita.

But Reno attorney Andy Boles, hired by Maita's stepson, Mark Matoon, said the report "will have absolutely no effect at all" on the civil rights lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in December.

The lawsuit alleges that the sheriff's deputies used excessive force and injured Maita "without cause or lawful reason" in the July 1996 raid, adding that Maita died a couple of weeks later.

The sheriff's deputies were serving a search warrant at the residence, looking for stolen property they believed his grandson had.

"The force of the battering broke Philip Maita's left arm, caused severe contusions and rendered him unconscious," the civil lawsuit alleges.

But the grand jury found Maita had acute leukemia and a severe bacterial infection, and was unable to continue breathing.

Boles said the civil lawsuit jurors could hear the testimony differently than the grand jurors, adding that grand jurors didn't hear testimony in an adversarial setting.

"They're (the grand jurors) getting the sanitized version from the police," he added.

The 17-member grand jury also found the sheriff's deputies identified themselves before and after entry of the residence. In the lawsuit, it's alleged officers wore masks and didn't identify themselves.