JULIE SHAW, Daily News Staff Writer shawj@phillynews.com, 215-854-2592 Posted: Sunday, March 29, 2015, 3:01 AM

AN ATTORNEY for a man who sued two cops over a 2013 stop-and-frisk filed a motion in federal court yesterday seeking a new trial based in part on jurors' confusion over the verdict sheet.

Paul Messing, attorney for plaintiff Herbert Spellman, 51, contended in a memorandum that U.S. District Judge Stewart Dalzell had a duty to explain to the jury that its verdict sheet "contained contradictory responses, and to further instruct or provide guidance to the jury on its options." By not doing so "was error," he wrote.

Messing also attached a signed "declaration" by one juror, which said all seven jurors unanimously agreed that the two cops, David O'Connor, 31, and Brad Momme, 29, who stopped and frisked Spellman, violated his rights.

The Daily News found a phone number yesterday for that juror, a Chester County man, 63, in a public database and called him.

The man, who asked that his name not be published, told the Daily News: "The verdict that we recorded wasn't the verdict that the jury intended. So the will of the jury was not held forth."

The jury, on its March 18 verdict sheet, answered "No" to questions asking if the officers seized, searched and detained Spellman "in violation of the Fourth Amendment causing harm" to him and if the cops "used unreasonable force" against Spellman "in violation of the Fourth Amendment causing harm" to him.

The Chester County juror said the "causing harm" part of the questions "was what threw us."

The jury did not think there was sufficient evidence showing the cops caused Spellman any physical injuries, the juror said.

"But, we did think there was sufficient evidence [that the cops] didn't have just cause to stop Spellman," he said.

Read the original here:

Attorney seeks new trial in stop-and-frisk case