NORFOLK, Va. April 25 2013- A jury says Portsmouth Sheriff Bill Watson did perform unconstitutional searches on women in 2011, but not in each alleged incident.In a Norfolk courtroom Wednesday, the jury came back with a verdict stating Sheriff Watson performed unconstitutional searches on two jail workers without reasonable suspicion. The jury did not think Watson performed those searches unconstitutionally on the other seven women named on the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleged Watson took the nine jail workers to a private room where a female deputy forced them to take off their clothes for a strip search. The women said their constitutional rights were violated.
In May of 2012, Watson sat down with WAVY News’ Andy Fox to talk about the allegations and the lawsuit against him. He said there were never any body cavity searches and no one was touched, they were only strip searches.
WAVY News’ Jason Marks was at the Norfolk Federal Court Building Wednesday and said the court is in recess and will reconvene at 1:15 p.m. to determine what the women will be awarded in the suit.

Source: WAVY.com