PHOENIX - A landscaper who was jailed for seven months as the suspected freeway shooter is suing the state of Arizona and Maricopa County for false arrest and malicious prosecution.
Leslie Merritt Jr., who was 21 at the time, was charged one year ago this week in four of the 11 Interstate 10 shootings that terrorized the Valley last summer.
Merritt was freed last April after charges were dropped.
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"As we stand here today, there is no evidence whatsoever to suggest Leslie Merritt is the I-10 shooter, that he has been or that he ever will be," Merritt's attorney, Jason Lamm, said at a news conference Wednesday outside the Old Maricopa County Courthouse.
The 20-page lawsuit accuses the Arizona Department of Public Safety and Marciopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery of false arrest, malicious prosecution and gross negligence.
The case against Merritt fell apart after the defense team showed that DPS botched the ballistics investigation of four of the shootings.
"They perpetrated a public relations stunt to calm the public with no evidence whatsover," Lamm said. "DPS' position from Day 1 has been that they are right and everyone else is wrong."
The lawsuit does not specify the amount in damages being sought. But in a notice of claim filed earlier this year as a required precursor to the lawsuit, Merritt's attorneys asked for $10 million.
"People still confront him in the street," Lamm said of Merritt.
He said Merritt was working but suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of his seven months in solitary confinement.
One high-profile figure could be dragged into the case.
Gov. Doug Ducey, who wrote the infamous "We got him" tweet after Merritt's arrest, had been included in the Merritt claim filed earlier in the year.
Ducey is not named in the lawsuit, but Lamm said he might be hauled into court.
"There's an extremely strong likelihood that he will still be a witness, but we have made a decision not to make him a defendant," Lamm said.
Montgomery and a DPS spokesman said they couldn't comment on the lawsuit. DPS says the freeway shootings are still an open investigation.
