Eastern District Judge Joanna Seybert (See Profile) has ruled that two of three men who unsuccessfully sued Nassau County for malicious prosecution are entitled to a retrial on their civil claims. John Kogut, John Restivo and Dennis Halstead were convicted for the 1984 rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl. They sued the county and a number of ex-detectives after being freed in 2003 when DNA tests did not match any of them. After a nearly three-month civil trial and six days of deliberation, a jury found for the defendants late last year (NYLJ, Dec. 3, 2012).
In a 47-page ruling released on Monday, Seybert granted Restivo and Halstead's motion for a retrial, but she rejected a bid from Kogut. When detectives were first investigating, Kogut at one point confessed to the crime but later said it was a false confession. Restivo and Halstead argued the jury charge on the malicious prosecution claim was defective in allowing jurors to weigh Kogut's confession when considering if law enforcement had probable cause to press their case.
