PITTSBURGH — Washington County must reimburse more than $100,000 in damages and attorney fees paid by its district attorney after he was successfully sued by a drug dealer for failing to return seized property, a state appeals court ruled.

Although a jury found the prosecutor's conduct "malicious, wanton or oppressive," it didn't amount to "actual malice or willful misconduct," a panel of Commonwealth Court judges said in Friday's 2-1 decision.

The dealer, Fred Brilla, was arrested in 1989 and state police seized weapons, cocaine, a computer, home electronics, lawn equipment and more than $50,000 in cash. He was convicted and sentenced to four to 10 years in prison in 1993.

Six years ago, a federal jury in Pittsburgh found District Attorney John Pettit liable for failing to return the property seized during Brilla's arrest.

In 2004, a year after Brilla was found shot to death in a bar, Pettit finally paid about $75,000 to Brilla's estate to cover the trial damages, attorneys fees and interest.

Pettit said the ruling vindicates how he handled the case.

"As I have felt all along, it is just. It is what the law calls for," Pettit said. "It, to a certain extent, makes it clear that I didn't do the things that the county people are trying to say that I did."

County Commissioner Bracken Burns, a three-term Democrat up for re-election in November, said he found the court's decision "offensive" and said he favors appealing it, though that decision will be made later.

"A jury that heard the case in depth found in favor of a convicted felon over a district attorney," Burns said. "I think it says something about the egregious nature of his actions, the offensive nature of his actions."