Former Iowa City schools counselor awarded $12 million after being wrongfully imprisoned for 6 years

Donald Clark won $12 million in a lawsuit he filed against the state of Iowa on Thursday, years after being exonerated and released from prison on false charges that he sexually abused a student while working as an Iowa City elementary school counselor.

A jury awarded Clark $8 million in past emotional distress damages and $4 million for future damages after he spent six years in prison starting in 2010. He was released in 2016 when his conviction was vacated. That year, the court found that his public defender, John Robertson, was ineffective and declared Clark not guilty, but also “actually innocent,” a legally important finding, according to a news release from Clark's lawyers at The Spence Law Firm LLC.

The jury found that Robertson, who died in 2013, failed to investigate the prosecution’s case against Clark, and a “substandard trial performance led to his conviction and wrongful imprisonment.”

Mel Orchard III of Jackson, Wyoming, one of Clark's lawyers, told the Press-Citizen on Friday that Clark was joyous when the decision was rendered. Clark and his lawyers spent five years suing the state since his original 25-year prison sentence was vacated.

More:School counselor freed after sex conviction is tossed

"A jury said loudly that the state of Iowa must take responsibility when you hurt somebody. That to (Clark), seeing that verdict, was as therapeutic as any amount of money," Orchard said. "But money is of course a necessary part of compensating anyone. That amount of money is a drop in the bucket in terms of what they took from him and what they left him with."

Clark was arrested in August 2009 on charges that he sexually abused a fifth-grade student at Lemme Elementary in Iowa City. A tip to the Iowa Department of Human Services in June 2009 said the abuse had occurred during the 2003-2004 school year.

Clark, at the time a Coralville resident, had worked for the Iowa City Community School District from 2001-08.

The Iowa Supreme Court upheld Clark’s conviction in 2012, but 6th Judicial District Judge Sean McPartland vacated Clark’s conviction in 2016.

The news release said the jury awarded Clark the $12 million after six days of testimony and just over two hours of deliberation.

“No matter what happens from here on out, I’m not only free from prison, but I’m also free from the state’s prison of lies. With this verdict, the rebuilding of my life can continue," Clark said in the news release.

Orchard declined an interview request on Clark's behalf.

Orchard doesn't know if the state will appeal the jury's decision or seek a retrial. The Press-Citizen reached out to the Iowa Attorney General's office but did not hear back before deadline Friday.

"There always is a chance of an appeal. I think an appeal would be a sad continuation of a sad ordeal that the state has always had the power to stop," Orchard said. "If I was their lawyer, I would advise them to accept the decision of the jury. But I'm not their lawyer."

Orchard said as soon as Clark got out of prison, he worked to rebuild his life by living in his parents' basement for a considerable time because the transition from prison to normal life is difficult.

"No matter your belief in your own innocence, your own innocence doesn't protect you from what prison does to people," Orchard said.

Orchard said Clark is grateful to have a job now at a Goodwill in Cedar Rapids.

Orchard said Clark's family, friends and fellow teachers showed up to support him the day he took the stand in the jury trial.

"I said that, no matter what this jury decides, this man is loved," Orchard said.