Jury leaning against Isiah Thomas in harassment case

01.10.2007 21:00 Sport and Travel - Source: USA Today

There was no official verdict, but the wording of a note to the judge by jurors makes it clear that they have reached decisions on the key points of the trial.

Jurors reached a decision on eight of the nine questions on the jury form; they were deadlocked on the other question, which asks whether Thomas should have to pay punitive damages. That question only becomes relevant if the jury of four women and three men first determines that Thomas and Madison Square Garden committed harassment against the former executive.

The judge sent the jury home for the day, asking the panel to deliberate again on the deadlocked question Tuesday.

Lawyers for both sides declined to comment on the development, which came on the second full day of deliberations.

Anucha Browne Sanders, fired from her $260,000 a year job in 2006, sued Thomas and Madison Square Garden for $10 million. She accused them of sexual harassment and said MSG fired her for complaining about the treatment.

Her case presented the Garden as "Animal House" in sneakers, a place where nepotism, sexism, crude remarks and crass language were part of the culture.

Browne Sanders, a married mother of three, spent four days on the witness stand laying out her case against the Garden and Thomas, who is married with two children.

Browne Sanders, a former Northwestern college basketball star characterized, Thomas as a foul-mouthed lout who initially berated her as as a "bitch" and a "ho" before his anger gave way to ardor, with Thomas making unwanted advances and encouraging her to visit him "off site."

Thomas, who was hired in December 2003, followed her to the stand and denied all her allegations. Attorneys for Thomas and the Garden also portrayed Browne Sanders as incompetent and unable to adapt once the NBA great arrived as the Knicks' president.

"That's not about sexual harassment," MSG attorney Ronald Green said in his closing argument. "That's about team politics."

Thomas acknowledged trying to kiss Browne Sanders in December 2005, asking her "No love today?" when she recoiled. MSG President Steve Mills said he spoke with Thomas about the single incident, and the former point guard said it wouldn't happen again.

In her closing argument, Browne Sanders' attorney Anne Vladeck made note of Thomas' charismatic style and incandescent grin.

"There is no question Mr. Thomas can be charming and flash an engaging smile," she told the jury. "That does not give him the right to treat Browne Sanders like she is his woman."

Browne Sanders filed her lawsuit after she was fired in January 2006. MSG Chairman Jim Dolan, who testified before Thomas, said he dismissed the team's vice president for marketing and business operations after learning she was pressuring Garden subordinates to bolster her complaint.

The case, from its inception, proved a public relations nightmare for the Knicks and the Garden, with intense coverage of the three-week trial focusing on its tawdriest aspects — star guard Stephon Marbury having sex with an intern outside a strip club, raunchy come-ons from a Marbury cousin to his Garden co-workers, Thomas' videotaped remarks about the racial dynamics of calling a woman "a bitch."

"The World's Most Heinous Arena," read one New York Post headline about the case.

The trial did steer attention from the Knicks on-court woes as the team geared up for its second season with Thomas as head coach. The Knicks finished 33-49 last year, and have yet to win a playoff game during the Thomas regime.

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