Grega v. Pettengill

• Decision Date: 18 August 2015
• Docket Number: Case No. 5:14–cv–00147.
• Parties: Jeff GREGA, in his capacity as Executor of Estate of John C. Grega, Plaintiff, v. William PETTENGILL, in his individual capacity; Dan M. Davis, in his individual capacity; Glen Cutting, in his individual capacity; Richard Holden, in his individual capacity; and Town of Dover, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Vermont

123 F.Supp.3d 517

Jeff GREGA, in his capacity as Executor of Estate of John C. Grega, Plaintiff,

v.William PETTENGILL, in his individual capacity; Dan M. Davis, in his individual capacity; Glen Cutting, in his individual capacity; Richard Holden, in his individual capacity; and Town of Dover, Defendants.

Case No. 5:14–cv–00147.

United States District Court, D. Vermont.

Signed Aug. 18, 2015.

Bernard Aiden Flanagan, Esq., Chad W. Higgins, Esq., Dalton C.N. Randall, Esq., Jacob N. Tabor, Esq., Joseph F. Savage, Jr., Esq., Goodwin Procter LLP, Boston, MA, Ian P. Carleton, Esq., Sheehey Furlong & Behm P.C., Burlington, VT, for Plaintiff.

Jonathan T. Rose, Esq., Todd Daloz, Esq., Vermont Office of the Attorney General, Montpelier, VT, Colin K. McNeil, Esq., Nancy G. Sheahan, Esq., McNeil, Leddy & Sheahan, P.C., Burlington, VT, for Defendants.

OPINION AND ORDER RE: DEFENDANTS' MOTIONS TO DISMISS FOR FAILURE TO STATE A CLAIM (Docs. 25, 59)

GEOFFREY W. CRAWFORD, District Judge.

Plaintiff John C. Grega brought this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against defendants William Pettengill, Dan M. Davis, Glen Cutting, and Richard Holden in their individual capacities, and against the Town of Dover, Vermont. John Grega died in a motor vehicle accident on January 23, 2015. His executor, Jeff Grega, has been substituted as the plaintiff in this action. For simplicity, this order refers to the claims and allegations made by John Grega.

Grega claims that defendants violated his constitutional rights and state laws in connection with the investigation and prosecution of Grega for the murder of his wife, Christine. Presently before the court are defendants' motions to dismiss Grega's claims for failure to state a claim. A motions hearing was held on June 16, 2015. For the reasons set forth below, the Town of Dover's motion (doc. 59) is GRANTED, and the individual defendants' motion (doc. 25) is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part.

I. Factual Background

Grega's amended complaint alleges the following facts, which for purposes of this motion the court assumes to be true. (Doc. 53 at 6–49.)

A. Events Preceding Christine Grega's Death

John and Christine Grega met as students at St. John's University in 1983. They married in 1985, after each had graduated. The couple settled in New York in 1987, when Grega joined his family's window cleaning business. The Gregas had their first and only child, John Henry Grega, Jr., in 1992. In September 1994, the family was living in Lake Grove, New York.

On September 10, 1994, the Grega family drove from Long Island, New York to the Timber Creek Condominium Complex in Dover, Vermont, for the first leg of a family vacation. They stayed in Unit 69, owned by a former business associate of the family window cleaning business. The Gregas planned to continue their vacation in a family cabin in upstate New York after their stay in Dover. On September 11, 1994 the Gregas shopped, attended a ski show, and dined at a local restaurant. On September 12, the Gregas went to Santa's Land in Putney, Vermont, ate lunch at a McDonald's, and returned to the condo in the mid-afternoon.

In the late afternoon of September 12, Grega took John Jr. out while Christine stayed in the condo alone. Grega and John Jr. went to a playground, and then drove around looking for a restaurant. Grega never stopped at a restaurant, and eventually John Jr. fell asleep in his car seat. Grega returned to the condo to prepare John Jr.'s bed, leaving him asleep in the car. Grega discovered Christine motionless in the bathtub downstairs. He pulled her out of the bathtub, placed her face-up on the bathroom floor, and attempted to perform CPR on her.

Unit 69 had no telephone, so Grega ran to the closest occupied unit, Unit 72, in order to make an emergency call. The Unit 72 occupants heard Grega yell something to the effect that his wife had fallen in the tub and his son was asleep in the car. Fearing for their own safety, they refused to open the door to Grega until he produced his son. Grega retrieved John Jr. from the car, handed him over to the Unit 72 occupants, told them to make an emergency call, and ran back to Unit 69. The Unit 72 occupants made an emergency call around 8:30 p.m.

B. The First Response

A Dover police officer ("Dover Officer") arrived at Unit 69 at 8:36 p.m. He found Grega sobbing on the floor next to Christine. Upon noting Christine's pallid blue color, he determined—"contrary to standard operating procedure"—that attempting to resuscitate her would be of no use, and did not do so. (Id. at 12.) He called dispatch to inform them there had been a fatality.

Around 8:40 p.m., an emergency medical technician ("First EMT") arrived. The First EMT evaluated Christine's vital signs, thought he felt a pulse, and instructed the Dover officer to help him perform CPR. The initial chest compressions resulted in copious amounts of water flowing out of Christine's nose and mouth, followed by large quantities of vomit. The First EMT then stopped attempting CPR.

A Deerfield Valley Rescue ambulance along with a senior EMT ("Senior EMT") arrived a few minutes later. The Senior EMT entered the unit to hear a man's "primal scream," which was Grega crying hysterically in the downstairs bedroom while the Dover Officer tried to console him. (Id. ) Upon arrival, the Senior EMT was "shocked" that neither the Dover Officer nor the First EMT was performing CPR, and noted that the First EMT seemed overwhelmed and disoriented. (Id. ) The Senior EMT ordered that CPR recommence. CPR was unsuccessful, and Christine was carried to an ambulance, which departed for the local hospital.

A regional medical examiner continued life-saving efforts in the ambulance, but was unsuccessful. He pronounced Christine Grega dead at 9:10 p.m., and rerouted the ambulance to the Deerfield Valley Health Center and then to a funeral home.

The Chief of the Dover Police ("Police Chief") arrived at Unit 69 at 9:10 p.m. He observed no crime scene tape cordoning off the unit. However, he did not order the Dover Officer to secure the scene or restrict access to it, even after he became suspicious that Christine's death was not accidental. (Id. at 13–14.)

The Police Chief then ordered a detective ("Dover Detective") to come to the unit and secure the scene. The Dover Detective arrived around 10:00 p.m. He designated only the downstairs bathroom as a crime scene, and responders "move [d] freely" through the upstairs portion of the unit. (Id. at 15.) Consequently, the top floor of the unit had been "contaminated" by around midnight that night, according to a Vermont State Police detective. (Id. ) No log was maintained recording the people who entered or exited the crime scene. Nor did the Dover Detective or Dover Officer preserve any evidence "of a temporary nature" in the downstairs section of the unit. (Id. ) Grega alleges that this procedure did not comply with Dover Police Department training materials regarding identifying and securing a crime scene. According to the Dover Detective's testimony, "he was not aware of any protocol to secure a scene" and he did not recall "receiving any training on securing a crime scene." (Id. )

An autopsy was performed on Christine's body on September 13. It revealed evidence of extreme trauma including blunt force head wounds

, bruises and abrasions, evidence of choking, severe vaginal injuries, and multiple lacerations to the rectal area. An expert who subsequently examined the autopsy results also identified a fractured hyoid bone. A State forensics medical expert concluded that the rectal injuries were caused by an object the size of a fist, pipe, or bat.

C. The State's Investigation

Defendant William Pettengill, a Detective Sergeant with the Vermont State Police ("VSP"), and Defendant Glen Cutting, a VSP Detective Lieutenant, conducted the investigation of Christine Grega's murder. Cutting was in charge of the investigation, and Pettengill was the lead investigator working under Cutting's supervision. Defendant Dan Davis, the Windham County State's Attorney, led the State's prosecution. Davis "was intimately involved in all aspects of the investigation ... [and] there were continual discussions with ... Davis as to how to proceed." (Id. at 24.)

Cutting and Pettengill arrived at Unit 69 at approximately 1:36 a.m. on September 13, 1994. The area was still not cordoned off upon their arrival. However, they "did not order that the scene be secured in any fashion, that efforts be taken to preserve the evidence of a fleeting nature, or that individuals present in the upstairs of the [u]nit be removed so as to preserve the integrity of any evidence" upstairs—despite the fact that Pettengill "concluded almost immediately" that a homicide had occurred. (Id. at 14, 16–17.) Cutting did not declare the entire unit to be a crime scene until after taking a statement from Grega. Still, no crime scene tape was put up around the perimeter of the crime scene, nor was any tamper-proof tape affixed to the unit's doors until after a search was conducted on September 13. (Id. at 27.) Grega alleges that Cutting's and Pettengill's conduct did not comply with VSP's death investigation training manuals. (Id. at 17.)

Grega alleges that defendants' investigation was additionally deficient in the following respects:

• Over the course of several hours, nearly two dozen local police officers, state troopers, EMTs (who remained in the condo long after Christine was removed), and other individuals entered and exited the condo unit without reasonable limits;

• Doors, door knobs, faucets, and surfaces were touched without regard for the forensically destructive consequences of doing so;

• Some of the investigative team members did not wear gloves;

• Nobody wore protective booties;

• No photographs of Unit 69 were taken the night of September 12;

• Rooms were disturbed and personal items were moved;

• One EMT used the bathroom and flushed the toilet;

• The fixtures and drain on the bathtub where Christine was found

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