A northwestern Utah county must pay $135,200 in attorney fees for the alleged false arrests of two Black men after a federal judge reduced the original amount owed by Box Elder County by about $90,000.
The Standard-Examiner reported that Judge Dale Kimball’s Sept. 10 ruling stems from the December 2016 arrests of Nehemiah McFarlin and Atoa Fox, Idaho State University student-athletes. Fox and McFarlin filed a lawsuit in 2018 claiming they were the victims of false arrest and other civil rights violations. Attorneys for the county filed motions to overturn the $225,600 claim. Private attorney R. Blake Hamilton argued the county's case.