Miramar, FL – The City of Miramar has announced a significant legal victory in the appeal of the circuit court order in the case of Donald Spadaro, as Limited Guardian for Anthony Caravella v. City of Miramar. Broward judge’s ordered that the city of Miramar owed $3.6 million to Anthony Caravella who was exonerated in 2010 after spending over 25 years in prison for a murder and rape he did not commit.
On August 24, 2023, the Circuit Court ordered the City of Miramar to pay $2,500,000 in compensatory damages and $1,086,259 in attorney fees and costs, plus interest, to Donald Spadaro, as limited guardian for Anthony Caravella. These payments were related to a 2013 federal court judgment against former Miramar Police Officers.
The City of Miramar’s City Attorneys, Austin Pamies Norris-Weeks and Powell promptly filed an appeal; and on July 17, 2024, the 4th District Court of Appeal overturned the Circuit Court’s order. The Court concurred with the City’s argument that Florida law (section 11.071(1)(a), Florida Statutes) prohibits municipalities from paying civil rights judgments under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 when the officers involved have been determined to have intentionally caused harm.
“This ruling reaffirms our commitment to upholding justice and the rule of law,” said City Manager, Dr. Roy Virgin. “We are relieved that the Appellate court recognized the error in the previous judgment and ruled in favor of the City.”
The reversal confirms that the City of Miramar has no liability in this matter.
Caravella was only 15 years old when Officers William Mantesta and George Pierson coerced him into confessing to the 1983 rape and murder of 58-year-old Ada Cox Jankowski. He was arrested by the two officers for failing to appear in court for a minor theft charge. Over the course of a week in juvenile custody, Caravella was told and forced to repeat information about the crime scene where Jankowski was found stabbed more than 24 times. In 1984, Caravella was sentenced to life in prison, narrowly avoiding the death penalty.
In 2013, a federal jury in Fort Lauderdale found Mantesta and Pierson liable for framing Caravella. The jurors found that the officers acted with malice or reckless indifference, violated Caravella’s constitutional rights, coerced him into confessing and withheld evidence that could have cleared him soon after his arrest. A three-judge panel from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the verdict.
Carvella was exonerated in 2009 following an investigation from reporters at the Sun Sentinel which led to DNA evidence from the crime scene being tested.
