Michigan Will Appeal $325K Verdict In Favor Of Prisoner With Chronic Pain

DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - The state of Michigan says it will appeal after a jury awarded $325,000 to a prison inmate who accused officials of illegally rejecting his pleas for help for chronic pain.

The state filed a notice last week in Detroit federal court. It's too early to know the grounds for the appeal. The process will last months.

Temujin Kensu sued many state officials, including Dr. Jeffrey Stieve, who was chief medical officer. Kensu said he failed to get shoulder surgery and other joint care, despite recommendations.

On March 28, a jury said officials were "deliberately indifferent" to Kensu's needs and ordered compensatory and punitive cash awards.

The 52-year-old, also known as Fred Freeman, is serving a no-parole sentence. He's been in prison for nearly 30 years and continues to fight his murder conviction. He insists he was in the Upper Peninsula on the day that a young man was killed in a college parking lot in Port Huron in 1986. The Innocence Clinic at University of Michigan law school is representing him.

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