Jury awards nearly $60M to former police officer for wrongful prosecution in sex assault case

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Jury awards practically $60M to former police…

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Jury awards practically $60M to former police officer for wrongful prosecution in intercourse assault case

By Debra Cassens Weiss

August 15, 2025, 9:39 am CDT

Federal jurors in Detroit awarded about $58.5 million Tuesday to a person who was a police officer in Duval County, Florida, when he stated he was wrongly charged with sexually abusing a baby in Michigan.

Jurors awarded Sean MacMaster $33 million in compensatory damages towards David Busacca, a Michigan State Police officer, and Brian Kolodziej, a former Michigan assistant lawyer basic, report the Detroit Free Press, the Related Press and WXYZ. Jurors additionally awarded punitive damages of $10 million towards Busacca and $15 million towards Kolodziej.

Jurors stated the defendants acted “deliberately, intentionally or with reckless disregard for the reality” in pursuing the fees.

Attorneys for MacMaster had alleged that Kolodziej pursued the fees to impress a girl near MacMaster’s ex-wife, who was engaged in a custody battle with MacMaster, in accordance with the AP.

Michigan Legal professional Common Dana Nessel dropped the prison sexual conduct cost towards MacMaster in 2021. At about that point, Kolodziej resigned from Nessel’s workplace amid proof that he was in a romantic relationship with a unique lady in a sexual assault case that he oversaw. In line with the AP, he pleaded no contest to willful neglect of responsibility and gave up his legislation license.

Representing himself at trial, Kolodziej stated his resignation from the lawyer basic’s workplace “has completely nothing to do with the info of this case supporting possible trigger for an arrest warrant and a search warrant,” the AP stories.

Busacca’s lawyer stated his shopper was a highway patrol trooper supervised by others, and he was “not going out on a limb right here to assist Brian Kolodziej get a girlfriend.”

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