Jury awards $122.5 million to bomb-hurt doctor

A Crittenden County jury has awarded the former Arkansas State Medical Board chairman $122.5 million in damages against a former Russellville doctor who orchestrated a 2009 bombing that severely injured him.

Dr. Trent Pierce was injured at his West Memphis home on Feb. 4, 2009, when a bomb hidden in a spare tire that was placed in front of his car exploded. Pierce was severely burned and suffered broken bones and teeth, partial hearing loss and the loss of sight in one eye.

A jury Tuesday awarded Pierce and his wife, Melissa, $17.5 million in compensatory damages for injuries suffered and $105 million in punitive damages, attorney Robert Cearley said Wednesday. The Pierces originally filed the civil suit against Randeep Mann and other unknown defendants in 2010, and a circuit judge issued a partial summary judgment in 2013 in favor of the Pierces, leaving a jury to determine the amounts of damages to award the Pierces.

Mann was in 2010 sentenced to life in prison in the bombing. Prosecutors argued Mann plotted the attack in retaliation for the board not reinstating his permit to prescribe medication after it had been revoked over concern about several of his patients overdosing.

Read Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

Upcoming Events