NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A former Yale University lecturer who was named as a suspect but never charged in the 1998 killing of a student has settled his lawsuit against the university and New Haven police, attorneys involved in the case and the university said Monday.
James Van de Velde said in his lawsuit that being named a suspect violated his civil rights and damaged his reputation, career and health. The case shows the terrible harm that can be done to innocent people, said his attorney, David Grudberg.
“This case is another example of the awful damage that can occur when authorities make a rush to judgment and ignore the facts,” Grudberg said. “It has been apparent for many, many years that James Van de Velde should never have been named a suspect in this case.”
“There was zero evidence connecting him with the crime. We brought this lawsuit to vindicate his good name, and the settlement of this lawsuit gives him the vindication he deserves,” Grudberg said.
Van de Velde said he intends to move forward in his career as a consultant to the U.S. intelligence community, a lecturer in security studies at Johns Hopkins University and return to the U.S. Naval Intelligence Reserves. He also said he plans to serve as a spokesman for those wrongly accused and publicly labeled.
The killing of Yale student Suzanne Jovin, a 21-year-old political science major from Germany, remains unsolved.
The amount of the settlement was not disclosed.
