$22.5M settlement reached in Stanislaus County malicious prosecution case

Attorneys for the estate of late Modesto defense attorney Frank Carson, and a group of other plaintiffs falsely accused of a 2012 murder, announced a $22.5 million settlement Thursday on the eve of a sprawling corruption and malicious prosecution trial against a group of current and former Stanislaus County law enforcement officials.

The settlement announced on the eve of a jury trial set to begin Friday before U.S. District Judge Daniel. J. Calabretta over claims that law enforcement fabricated evidence and falsely accused the plaintiffs of either murdering, or aiding abetting the murder of, Korey Kaufman whose remains were found in the Stanislaus County National Forest in August 2013.

The case consolidated four lawsuits filed by Carson's estate, his widow, his stepdaughter, three former highway patrol officers, and two local business owners. All the defendants previously denied wrongdoing, including former Stanislaus County District Attorney Birgit Fladager and former Chief Deputy District Attorney David Harris.

The late Carson and two brothers, local business owners Baljit Athwal and Daljit Athwal, were acquitted of the murder in June 2019.

Carson, his estate, his family, and his counsel all claimed that the investigation and prosecution against him was malicious and retaliatory because of his success defending a number of high-profile trials brought by Stanislaus County prosecutors.

At a news conference attorneys hosted by J. Gary Gwilliam, of Gwilliam Ivary Chiosso Cavalli & Brewer APC in Oakland, who represented Carson's estate, two of his surviving family members and one of the former highway patrol officers also serving as plaintiffs in the case, called the settlement "important" and commented on the years long case. Athwal et al v. County of Stanislaus et al., 1:15-cv-0311 (N.D.Cal., filed Feb. 26, 2015).

"This case important not just because we got a large settlement and not just because we worked on it for a long time. This case involves something that should be near and dear to all of our hearts and is very topical of what is going on right now in our country," Gwilliam said.

"This is about justice. The District Attorney's Office in Stanislaus and the entire law enforcement went after a man named Frank Carson. Why did they go after Frank Carson? They went after him because he was a very good defense attorney and had taken them on and beaten them. They decided to frame him, quite frankly, and go after him through years and years of litigation. I guess in one way they won their battle because it ultimately cost him his life and ruined his family but we're here to honor Frank and the people involved in this outrageous conspiracy," he added.

Gwilliam's co-counsel and partner, Jayme L. Walker, said "prosecutors have ethical duties to seek the truth. Their job is not to get convictions. Thier job is not to put people in jail. It's to seek the truth and find justice and that clearly didn't happen in this case. What they were clearly out to do was to frame Frank Carson."

Walker added, "It was particularly illustrated by the comments of Marlissa Ferreira to Georgia DeFilippo [Carson's widow] during the criminal trial such as 'when are you going to run out of money?' and other comments she admitted to in her deposition."

According to a joint pretrial statement, all the plaintiffs were arrested and charged in connection to the disappearance and murder of Korey Kaufman whose remains were found in the Stanislaus County National Forest in August 2013.

Arturo J. González, Matthew A. Chivvis, Meredith L. Angueira of Morrison & Foerster LLP represented the Athwal brothers and two of the former highway patrol officers, Walter W. Wells and Scott Mcfarlane.

According to a Thursday news release, Gwilliam and Walker's clients received $12.5 million of the settlement, $10.5 million going to Carson's estate and his family. The Morrison & Foerster clients received $10.5 million.

The following current and former Stanislaus County law enforcement officials were defendants in the case: Fladager, Harris, investigator Kirk Bunch, investigator Cory Brown, investigator Steve Jacobson, and former Chief Assistant District Attorney Marlissa Ferreira.

Jeff Laugero, the current Stanislaus County District Attorney, said that he views the settlement as "a necessary step to close a difficult chapter and maintain our focus on current public safety priorities" in an email Thursday shared by his office's media relations department.

Laugero added, "Since taking office in 2023, my commitment has been, and continues to be, to pursue justice with integrity, fairness, transparency, and accountability based solely on evidence and the law, while building public trust by ensuring our criminal justice system works equitably for all. I and the members of your District Attorney's Office remain dedicated to public safety and our mission to serve Stanislaus County through ethical, effective prosecution."

The following attorneys leading the defense team could not be reached for comment Thursday: John R. Whitefleet, Carl L. Fessenden, and Colin J. Nystrom of Porter Scott Attorneys APC in Sacramento.

In an October 2024 motion for summary judgment, the defendants denied wrongdoing and stated that probable cause existed to launch the investigations and subsequent prosecutions of each plaintiff.

"Despite plaintiffs' superficial challenge to probable cause, the 325-page affidavit contains more than enough information from which a judge could infer probable cause," the defense motion stated. "As such, each of plaintiffs' causes of action fails because there was sufficient probable cause in the affidavit to support the judge's finding that there was, in fact, probable cause to support the arrest warrant."

Part of that motion was denied by Calabretta in court on Oct. 15. In a Jan. 21 order, the judge denied the rest of the outstanding summary judgment issues.

Gwilliam stated that Carson's trial is the subject of an upcoming documentary produced by the Sundance and streaming service AMC+. The case against Carson previously garnered national attention and was the subject of a 2021 podcast series from the Los Angeles Times called "The Trials of Frank Carson."