A jury determined Thursday a maintenance worker at the Beni Kedem Temple was subjected to a civil conspiracy at the hands of a current member and former member of the Beni Kedem Shriners.
Following a three-day trial, jury members determined the defendants, Denver "Skip" King and Martin Castleberry, didn't commit other misdeeds against Mark Mullins, who claimed he was defamed and assaulted when he was drawn into an internal organizational conflict between King and Beni Kedem's recorder, Tom Black in October 2013.
Mullins was awarded compensatory damages of $1,000 in the case, and King and Castleberry each were ordered to pay $500 in punitive damages to Mullins, bringing the total award to Mullins to $2,000.
King said he was glad to have the trial behind him.
"I'm pleased that, after going on four years, it's over with," King said after the verdict was read in court. "They found we weren't guilty of the awful things they made up with the state police and other lies he's piled over the years."
The jury also considered whether King and Castleberry committed libel, defamation, false imprisonment or portrayed Mullins in a false light. King also was accused of assault.
Attorneys described the case as a he-said-she-said matter, and during their closing arguments they implored jurors to consider the credibility of Mullins, King, Castleberry and other witnesses who testified during the trial.
At issue were two particular incidents in October 2013, when Mullins said he was dragged into an ongoing conflict between King and Black that dated back to 2012.
King and Black had been engaged in a nearly year-long contention after a verbal altercation, which eventually led to King being expelled from the organization in October 2013.
King called Mullins near 6:30 p.m. Friday, October 26, 2013, and asked him to meet him, Castleberry and two other Shriners at the Beni Kedem Temple at 100 Quarrier Street. Mullins testified King asked him for keys to an office belonging to Black and other temple officials, but Mullins said he didn't have a key. Mullins said King began yelling at him, calling him a liar and aggressively pointed his finger in Mullins's face, nearly poking him in the eye. Mullins said he was able to leave the temple after King and Castleberry left the temple to get a key from another temple employee.
King said during his testimony he became mad when he learned Mullins didn't have the key, but he did not aggressively point at Mullins.
The next day, Mullins said King called him to meet up, and when they did, Mullins said King took away his mobile phone and locked it in the console of King's vehicle. King said that was not true.
The men went to the law office of Larry Kopelman, who met them as they entered the building. Mullins said two state troopers were stationed outside of the building, but King and Castleberry said none were there.
Kopelman left the building, and King and Castleman, who already was present, reportedly led Mullins to a room where Mullins said he was coerced into giving a statement alleging Black attempted to spy on another employee's computer and put his name on a check that originally was made to the Shriners. Mullins said he'd felt his job was under threat at the time.
The statement was 90 percent false, Mullins said during his testimony. King and Castleberry testified that Mullins contacted them, saying he "needed to get some things off his chest," and willingly gave the statement.
The statement was transcribed by Kopelman's legal secretary, and Mullins signed it the following Monday, according to testimony from all three men, and it was given to a state Beni Kedem official and shared with other members of the temple, Mullins said.
Mullins didn't lose his job at the temple following the incidents, but he said his credibility suffered as a result.
Mullins declined to comment to the Gazette-Mail after the verdict was read Thursday.
Reach Lacie Pierson at lacie.pierson@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @LaciePierson on Twitter.