Glover v. State

DEBORAH S. EYLER, Judge. The Circuit Court for Baltimore City granted summary judgment in favor of the State of Maryland, the appellee, in a civil suit brought against it by James Glover, the appellant. On appeal, the appellant poses one question for review, which we have revised slightly, as follows: Did the circuit court err in ruling that the Division of Pretrial Detention Services was not negligent, as a matter of law, and did not violate his constitutional rights, as a matter of law, by detaining him for 30 days without a warrant, a bail hearing, or legal representation, when there was information in the State’s files showing that he was not the proper person to be detained? For the following reasons, we shall affirm the judgment of the circuit court.

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS On October 4, 1996, the appellant began serving a 30-day sentence for battery, at the Baltimore City Detention Center (“BCDC”). A little more than two weeks later, on October 18, 1996, the appellant and the Division of Pretrial Detention Services (“DPDS”) were served with a directive, signed by the Baltimore City Sheriff, bearing the caption of the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, in the case of “State of Maryland v. James Glover, SID [State Identification Number] 91140962.” This document directed the Warden of the BCDC to take into custody and hold “James Glover, AA/M DOB 8/13/58,” until ³¹⁶ further action of the circuit court, on the authority of “Bench Warrant No. 896236002,” signed by a judge of the circuit court on August 23, 1996, for failure to appear on a charge of “Unauthorized Use Theft.” For purposes of convenience, we shall hereinafter refer to this directive as a “detainer.” 1 Pursuant to the detainer, the appellant was held in the BCDC until December 4, 1996, when DPDS produced him to the circuit court on the unauthorized use charge. Apparently, the circuit court determined at that time that the appellant was not the “James Glover” in Case Number 896236002, for whom the bench warrant was issued, and ordered the appellant released from custody. The record before us does not contain the transcript of the proceedings on December 4, however, and we cannot ascertain precisely the basis for the circuit court’s conclusion.

In addition, although there is a vague allusion in the record, to the appellant having filed a habeas corpus petition in the circuit court some time between October 18 and December 4, the record in this case does not contain such a petition. At oral argument before this Court, the appellant’s counsel stated, when asked, that the appellant filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus, but it had not yet been ruled on by the circuit court when he was brought before the court on December 4. 2 ³¹⁷ On November 12, 1999, the appellant filed a civil action in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City naming the “City of Baltimore” and the State as defendants. He alleged negligence and a violation of his constitutional rights against both defendants. 3 The appellant later filed a first amended complaint that was essentially the same as his initial complaint. The “City of Baltimore” filed a motion to dismiss the first amended complaint, which was granted.

That ruling is not being challenged on appeal. In his first amended complaint, the appellant alleged that after he was served with the detainer, on October 18, 1996, he told people at the BCDC he was not the “James Glover” wanted on the unauthorized use charge, and that a mistake must have been made. He further alleged that DPDS records contained information that, if examined, would have confirmed that he was not the “James Glover” wanted on the unauthorized use charge; however, notwithstanding his complaints, no one at DPDS took any action to investigate the matter. The appellant asserted that DPDS’s failure to investigate and take action was a breach of duty that resulted in his being detained beyond his scheduled release date of November 3, 1996, in violation of his constitutional rights to freedom and liberty.

The State filed an answer raising numerous defenses and thereafter filed a motion for summary judgment, supported by two affidavits. One affidavit, was by a records custodian for the DPDS, who attested that four attached records were authentic and were kept by the DPDS in the ordinary course of business. The records are: a two page computer print-out that is the “CJIS” (inmate history) record for the appellant; the detainer; a DPDS release form dated December 4, 1996; and a release warrant, dated December 4, 1996, and signed by the Clerk of Court of the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, ³¹⁸ directing that the appellant be released from the DPDS because he is the “wrong person.” The second affidavit was executed by Ralph Logan, Warden of the BCDC. Warden Logan attested, inter alia, that the appellant was served with the detainer on October 18, 1996, and that it bears his State Identification Number, which no other inmate has, because the number is unique to each prisoner and is linked to the prisoner’s fingerprint.

Thus, the detainer “unquestionably identified [the appellant] as the man that the [circuit court] wanted BCDC officials to detain and produce before the [circuit] court in order to answer to charges contained in the [bench] warrant.” Warden Logan went on to attest that when a bench warrant is issued for a defendant’s failure to appear in court, “it is the serving party’s responsibility to notify the [circuit court] that the warrant has been served and executed.” Thus, in this case, the Baltimore City Sheriffs Office, which served the detainer directing the warden to hold James Glover, SID No. 991140962, on the charges for which bench warrant 896236002 was issued, was responsible for notifying the circuit court that service had been effected. Once that occurred, the circuit court set the December 4, 1996, date for the “James Glover” who was the subject of the bench warrant to be brought before it. Finally, Warden Logan asserted that when the BCDC has custody of an inmate, and is served with a detainer directing it to keep the inmate in custody, it does not have the authority to release the inmate except upon order of the circuit court directing it to do so. The State used the affidavit evidence to argue that the undisputed facts established that the appellant indeed was the person for whom the detainer had been issued — even if the detainer should have been issued for another “James Glover.” Therefore, the DPDS was lawfully holding the appellant in custody after November 4, 1996, when he finished serving his 30-day sentence for battery, until December 4, 1996, when he was brought before the circuit court on the charges in Case Number 896236002.

Furthermore, under the circumstances, ³¹⁹ the DPDS had no authority to release the appellant from custody without being directed to do so by the circuit court. The State asserted that, “so long as an officer or a law enforcement agency has apparent legal justification or probable cause to detain a party, there is no further obligation to go beyond that apparent authority to insure that the suspect has been properly identified.” It argued that it was entitled to summary judgment on the negligence claim because it had no legal duty to take any action beyond what it did, and no authority to release the appellant in any event, and likewise was entitled to summary judgment on the constitutional violation claim because it deprived the appellant of his liberty under a facially valid arrest warrant. For reasons not clear from the record, the appellant was not served with the State’s motion for summary judgment, and the motion was granted upon default. Thereafter, the appellant promptly filed a motion to vacate.

The court granted it, and then gave the appellant time to file an opposition. The appellant’s opposition to the State’s motion for summary judgment was not supported by an affidavit or any sworn testimony, as required by Md. Rule 2-501(b). In essence, the opposition was a narrative version of the allegations in the first amended complaint. 4 The appellant stated, “there was ample evidence in the possession of the State of Maryland (and the state courts and the DPDS) that showed that [he] was not the person subject to the warrant, and despite this evidence, [the State] failed to confirm the error in identity and to notify the court of the error.” The appellant did not specify, however, what the “ample evidence” was. He further alleged that he told someone, or more than one person, at the DPDS (without identifying whom) that his date of birth and address “did not match the information on the ‘James Glover’ they intended to hold on the charges for which [the appellant] was wrongly held,” that he repeated this assertion ³²⁰ many times, and that a review of his file would have revealed the discrepancy.

He asserted that the DPDS was obligated to do more than check to see that his State Identification Number matched that on the detainer. Specifically, he argued that “[t]he onus of proper identification of a criminal suspect does not rest exclusively with judges, as the DPDS would have this court hold. The duty of proper identification rests in all departments involved in the criminal justice system.” The documents submitted by the State in support of its motion show that the detainer states “James Glover’s” date of birth as “8/13/58” while the CJIS record for the appellant and the appellant’s release order give his date of birth as 8/12/54. The detainer does not give an address for “James Glover.” As we have explained, we cannot determine from the record the basis on which the circuit court concluded, on December 4, 1996, that the appellant was not the “James Glover” who was charged with unauthorized use and failed to appear on that charge on August 23, 1996.

The circuit court held a hearing on the State’s motion for summary judgment on January 2, 2001. At the conclusion of the hearing, the court ruled that the State had not been negligent, as a matter of law, and had not violated the appellant’s constitutional rights, as a matter of law. The court granted the motion, and later reduced its ruling to a written order. The appellant noted a timely appeal.

STANDARD OF REVIEW Under Md. Rule 2-501, the circuit court may grant summary judgment when there is no genuine dispute of material fact and on the undisputed material facts, the moving party is entitled to judgment in his favor as a matter of law. Likewise, the circuit court may grant summary judgment when disputed material facts are assumed in favor of the non-moving party, and on those facts, the moving party still is entitled to judgment in his favor as a matter of law. King v. Board of Educ., 354 Md. 369, 376 , 731 A.2d 460 (1999); Bowen v. Smith, 342 Md. 449, 454 , 677 A.2d 81 (1996); Dobbins v. Washington ³²¹ Suburban, 338 Md. 341, 344-45 , 658 A.2d 675 (1995); and Baltimore Gas & Elec. Co. v. Lane, 338 Md. 34, 42-43 , 656 A.2d 307 (1995).

Whether there is a genuine dispute of material fact and whether on the undisputed, or assumed, material facts the moving party was entitled to judgment are questions of law that we review for legal correctness under a broad de novo standard of review. Fister v. Allstate Life Ins. Co., 366 Md. 201, 210 , 783 A.2d 194 (2001); Heat & Power Corp. v. Air Products & Chemicals, Inc., 320 Md. 584, 591 , 578 A.2d 1202 (1990). DISCUSSION The circuit court ruled that the State, through the DPDS, owed no duty of care to the appellant, and therefore was not liable to him for negligence, as a matter of law.

The court also ruled that the State, through DPDS, had not deprived the appellant of his liberty without legal justification for doing so, and therefore could not be liable to him for