HOUSTON -- A federal judge has recessed jurors until Monday after they reached an impasse on a former Houston Astros pitcher's multimillion-dollar brutality lawsuit against Galveston police officers who beat him in 2008.
The Houston Chronicle reports U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison urged settlement talks Thursday after the jury in the Brandon Backe police brutality suit reached an impasse in its deliberations in Houston.
The jury has deliberated three days on the former Astros right-hander's claims that excessive force ended his baseball career. Backe seeks up to $15 million in damages for injuries he says left him with limited use of his pitching arm. Police contend the allegations are exaggerated and that any force used was justified.
Backe helped pitch the Astros to the 2005 National League pennant.
