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GREENSBORO - Even though a federal judge ruled the city must give David Wray's former deputy chief his retirement pay, elected leaders are refusing to let the matter drop.

City Council members emerged from a special three-hour closed session Tuesday night with a cryptic announcement that city attorneys will "pursue" the case won last week by Randall Brady.

Brady retired in 2005 during an internal investigation of the Wray administration. City officials denied him full retirement benefits, citing the ongoing probe and the possibility that he would have been fired.

A federal judge disagreed with that logic.

In his ruling last week, Judge N. Carlton Tilley Jr. wrote that Brady met all the requirements the city had publicized for police officers to retire. If the city wanted to refuse him benefits, it should have had a policy in place to deny pay and health care to employees under investigation when they leave.

The ruling led to the closed session meeting for City Council to discuss its next move.

"Based on what I heard last night, I didn't want to walk away and just let this thing drop," Mayor Keith Holliday said Wednesday. "I personally want to see it through."

The vote to pursue the case was not unanimous. Councilman Mike Barber, a private attorney, said he objected to the city taking additional legal action in the case.

"I did not support the council's position," Barber said, "or the timing and method of release of information."

Though city attorneys would provide no detail, federal rules allow defendants in civil actions to ask for reconsideration of a judge's ruling in a "reasonable" period of time.

At the time he retired, Brady directed the Special Intelligence Section, which came under fire when the lawyer for a black lieutenant made public claims of internal racial profiling by the unit. Brady later told internal investigators that he had "secured" a photo album containing images of 19 black officers and 95 other men at Wray's direction.

Brady's attorney, Seth Cohen, could not be reached for comment Wednesday. But a fellow lawyer who initially advised the deputy chief to retire said the city had a "virtually zero chance" of getting the ruling reversed on appeal.

"It would be a complete waste of time and money," said Joel Oakley, who represents one of the former Special Intelligence officers now on paid suspension. "(Brady) put in his years of service and they accepted his retirement.

"He's due his money. So what else is there to talk about?"

Contact Eric J.S. Townsend at 373-7008 or etownsend@news-record.com

Contact Lorraine Ahearn at 373-7008 or lahearn@news-record.com