PRISONER WHO SAID DEPUTY RAPED HER WINS SUIT

A Harris County jury awarded $300,000 to a woman who said a sheriff's deputy
raped her twice while she was in county custody.

The woman's attorney, Scott Carpenter, said the jury ruled Monday that
Harris County violated her right to be free from cruel and unusual
punishment by not protecting her from the threat of violence and sexual assault.

Carpenter said the woman claimed she was raped six years ago by Deputy
Marcus Fleck, who allegedly took her out of a Ben Taub Hospital jail ward,
raped her, and then returned her to custody.

The woman was being held on a drug charge at the time and is now serving a
20-year prison term.

The Sheriff's Department investigated the allegations against Fleck and
concluded there was no evidence to support the charges.

However, the findings did not prevent her from filing a civil claim against
the officer and the county.

Fleck, 35, was fired from the Sheriff's Department in March 1995 for an
incident in which an inmate was improperly released.

The civil trial against the county started Oct. 20 and was held in the 125th
District Court.

Cedric Loeb, trial division chief for the county attorney's office, said the
county will appeal the jury's decision.

Last year, a lawsuit filed by the family of a South Carolina sailor who was
shot and killed by Fleck was settled for a confidential amount.

The lawsuit filed by the family of Ronald Wills of Goose Creek, S.C., was
the last to be settled in a series of lawsuits filed in connection with
Wills' death March 20, 1994.

Fleck shot Wills to death after an altercation outside the Palomino Club,
13030 Woodforest.

He was sued by the mother and wife of Wills, 31, who was in Houston visiting
his brother during a Navy leave.