Court rules against state in rape case

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - A former prisoner who said the state didn't do enough to protect her from a prison guard she accused of repeated rapes when she was incarcerated has won a round in court and will now seek damages from the state, her lawyer said Thursday.

The decision by a Court of Claims judge, released this week, found the state Department of Corrections failed to keep then-Corrections Officer Donald Lasker away from the woman at the Albion Correctional Facility even as an internal investigation into her accusation was under way.

The former guard has since pleaded guilty to third-degree rape and official misconduct, and has been sentenced.

Terence Kindlon, a lawyer for the former prisoner, said his client will seek a monetary award from the state in a separate trial and will also pursue a $500,000 federal court judgment she won when Lasker failed to show for court hearings in that case.

The woman wasn't identified in the civil court decision and the judge sealed the case at the time of the ruling.

"When I told her we had prevailed, she told me 'This is a miracle,'" Kindlon said. "This guard had absolute power over this woman," he said. "When you are a prisoner and you accuse a guard of rape, no one believes you and who do you report to but another guard? The dynamics are terrible."

Corrections Department spokesman Peter Cutler said Thursday the department had not yet seen the decision so would have no immediate comment. Lasker couldn't immediately be reached for comment. He was sentenced to two months of weekends in jail, and also is serving 10 years of probation, according to the court papers.

In the decision, Court of Claims Judge Philip J. Patti said the state "had notice of Lasker's propensity to pursue unauthorized relationships with inmates and yet left him in a position to continue to pursue the same ... Lasker was left in a position where he could continue to pursue unauthorized relationships with inmates at Albion."

The judge dismissed the state's argument that officials legally had the authority to decide whether to keep the guard on the job or remove him, but couldn't take Lasker off the job because of his rights under law and his union contract.

The state "will not be permitted to both have its cake and eat it on this occasion," Patti said in his ruling.

The state had argued that Lasker was operating on his own, avoiding the safeguards in place to prevent guards from abusing prisoners. The law protects the state from the action of an employee "who perpetrates an act for his own purposes and outside the course of his employment."

But the judge said the state can be held liable if its supervision is negligent.

Court records noted that even as Lasker was under "additional supervision" June 9, 2007, he was able to use the prisoner as a porter even though he didn't have that authority and she wasn't trained for the task.

Kindlon said his client was in prison at the time after she was found to have used a stolen credit card while on probation for larceny also involving a stolen credit card. He said she is free now and trying to get on with her life.