By Brenda Starkey
Chronicle correspondent

     SPOKANE - Ferry County’s insurance company will pay more than $350,000 awarded to Faustina Roberts, Republic, by a federal court jury.
     A U.S. District Court jury of six men and two women found in Roberts’ favor March 26.
     The trial, which began March 23, involved a discrimination lawsuit brought by Roberts against the county and Sheriff Pete Warner in May 2007.
     After about two hours of deliberation, the jury awarded $336,000 in lost wages and earnings, $15,000 for mental and emotional pain, and $10,000 in punitive damages against Warner.
     The money won't come out of the county's tight budget, but will be paid by its insurance company, county Commissioner Brad Miller said March 27.
     The jury decided that Roberts was deprived of her First Amendment right of freedom of association, attorney Stewart R. Smith said.
     The federal civil rights statute guarantees freedom of association. Every individual has a right to have an intimate association, such as a spouse, he said.
     Roberts was the only person to pass both the sheriff's office's civil service and the agility tests for a corrections officer position in August 2005. Gordon Winter, an applicant who hadn't passed the agility test, was hired for the position, according to court documents.
     Roberts filed a complaint with the civil service in December 2005 and was then offered a part-time position in March 2006. She was unable to take that position because she was working a full-time job, court documents said.
     According to a court statement by Warner, Winter was an emergency hire and Faustina Roberts' name didn't appear on a civil service list until Dec. 29, 2005.
     Another female applicant, Erin Boone, was hired in April 2005 to fill the corrections position after Roberts failed to show up for a scheduled interview, according to Warner's statement to the court.
     Her husband, Republic Police Officer Bret Roberts, had had several disputes regarding coverage of calls in the Republic area, court documents said.
     The testimony of Nick Merritt, former Republic police chief and sheriff's deputy, was critical in convincing the jury, Smith said.
     Merritt testified that Warner told him there was no way Faustina Roberts would be hired because she was married to Bret Roberts.
     A previous statement by Merritt was made supporting Warner, but that statement was made before he was fired from the sheriff's office. He apparently convinced the jury that he would not lie under oath, Miller said.
     The monetary figures were slightly lower than those recommended by an economic expert who testified about the wages and benefits Roberts would have earned over a career, past and future, had she been hired to fill the position, Smith said.
     Faustina Roberts was deprived of her right to privacy and freedom of association by suffering retaliation for her relationship with then-officer Bret Roberts, documents said.
     She was represented by Smith and Steve Lacy of Lacy Kane, East Wenatchee.