Logan v. Shealy
| Decision Date | 07 October 1981 |
| Docket Number | No. 80-1815,80-1815 |
| Citation | 660 F.2d 1007 |
| Parties | Lucy N. LOGAN, Appellant, v. Norris SHEALY, Earl L. Johnson, Jr., William F. Vance, J. Elwood Clements, James A. Gondles, Thomas W. Shortt, Carol J. Sachtleben, Arlington County, Virginia, Appellees, and Henry E. Hudson, Robert E. Turner, Henri Nava, William S. Burroughs, Jr., Defendants. American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia and the American Civil Liberties Union Fund of the Nat'l. Capital Area, /A Amici Curiae. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
Jerry K. Emrich, Arlington County Atty., Arlington, Va. (David R. Lasso, Asst. County Atty., Arlington, Va., on brief), for appellees Shealy, Johnson, Vance, Shortt and Arlington County.
Claude M. Hilton, Arlington, Va., for appellee Clements.
Peter T. Tonnessen, Bailey's Crossroads, Va. (Albert J. Ahern, Jr., Bailey's Crossroads, Va., on brief), for appellee Sachtleben.
Clausen Ely, Jr., Donna M. Murasky, Ellen J. Flannery, Covington & Burling, Washington, D. C., on brief, for amici curiae.
Before WINTER, Chief Judge, HAYNSWORTH, Senior Circuit Judge and PHILLIPS, Circuit Judge.
Lucy Logan appeals the rejection by summary judgment and directed verdict of her several claims brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and state law, against Arlington County and various judicial, prosecutorial, and law enforcement officers whose conduct incident to her arrest, detention, and strip search allegedly violated rights protected by the federal constitution and state law. We affirm the dismissal of all her claims except those related to the strip search of her person. As to those, we reverse and remand for further proceedings against certain of the defendants.
At approximately 7:30 p. m. on March 6, 1979, Logan, an attorney, was involved in a two-car collision in Arlington County, Virginia. The investigating officer, Thomas Shortt, suspected Logan had been driving while intoxicated. After giving Logan field alcoholic tests which she failed, Officer Shortt placed Logan under arrest and told her that he was taking her to the police station for a breathalyzer test. Logan asked to call her friend, Lorelei Haig, also an attorney, because the two had been together shortly before the accident and Haig knew how much alcohol Logan had consumed. Officer Shortt refused to permit the call and had Logan transported to the Arlington County Detention Center in a police cruiser. Logan arrived at the Detention Center at approximately 8:20 p. m.; Officer Shortt arrived shortly thereafter. Logan's car was impounded.
The exact sequence of events following Logan's arrival at the Detention Center is in some dispute on the testimony adduced at trial. Logan testified that she was taken before a magistrate, 1 who issued an arrest warrant for driving while intoxicated (D.W.I.), Va.Code § 18.2-266 (Cum.Supp.1981); that Officer Shortt then took her for a breathalyzer test; that she requested permission first to make a telephone call to Lorelei Haig which Officer Shortt refused to permit; and that Officer Shortt then took her back to the magistrate, who issued a second warrant for her refusal to take the test in violation of Virginia's implied consent law, Va.Code § 18.2-268 (Cum.Supp.1981). Officer Shortt's version is somewhat different. He testified that Logan first was taken to the breathalyzer unit, where she refused to take the test before calling Haig; that he refused Logan permission to make the call because he understood that she had no legal right to contact an attorney at that time; that when Logan still refused to take the test, he took her before Magistrate Vance, who persuaded Logan to take the test; that he, Officer Shortt, then took Logan back to the breathalyzer unit, where she again refused to be tested before calling Haig; and that he immediately returned her to the magistrate who issued the arrest warrant for D.W.I. and the second warrant for Logan's refusal.
In any event, after both warrants had been issued, Logan was booked and again went before the magistrate for a bond hearing. Logan testified that Magistrate Vance released her on her own recognizance, but then told Logan that according to a policy she would be unable to leave the Detention Center for four hours or until a responsible person came for her. Magistrate Vance denied that there was a firm policy to hold all D.W.I. arrestees for four hours to assure their sobriety. In this case, however, he directed that Logan was to be held for that length of time or until a responsible person took custody of her and she was then to be released upon personal recognizance. Magistrate Vance also did not permit Logan to call Haig because the magistrates' office did not have a phone available for arrestees' use and he understood that the sheriff would permit the call; Vance therefore informed Logan that she could make a telephone call upon commitment to jail. Officer Shortt then turned Logan over to the sheriff's custody at approximately 9:50 p. m. and left.
Logan immediately asked Deputy Sheriff Carol Sachtleben 2 for permission to call Lorelei Haig. In accordance with then Sheriff Clements' policy, however, Deputy Sachtleben first inventoried Logan's personal property and then took her to a holding cell and conducted a visual strip search. Sheriff Clements had established this policy to strip search all persons held at the Detention Center for weapons or contraband regardless of their offense in 1974-75 after a deputy allegedly was shot by a misdemeanant who had not been strip-searched. Logan testified that the window blinds in the holding cell were either open or broken and permitted anyone in the booking area to observe her strip search. Deputy Sachtleben testified that the blinds were closed and no one could see into or out of the holding cell during the search. Once the strip search was completed, Deputy Sachtleben brought a telephone to the holding cell and Logan called Lorelei Haig. At 10:55 p. m., Logan was released to Haig.
Logan subsequently brought this action for damages and for declaratory and injunctive relief under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging the deprivation of various civil rights. 3 Her § 1983 claims were basically three.
The first claim related to the denial of Logan's request to make a telephone call. The actions of Magistrates Johnson and Vance, Police Officer Shortt, Deputy Sheriffs Sachtleben and Turner, and Correctional Officer Nava in refusing her permission to call her attorney, Lorelei Haig, until after the strip search was completed even though the two arrest warrants had issued earlier 4 were claimed to have violated her sixth amendment right to the assistance of counsel.
The second claim related to Logan's detention. She alleged that either Magistrate Johnson or Vance or both ordered her to be committed to the Arlington County Detention Center for approximately four hours, after releasing her on her personal recognizance, pursuant to a policy of Arlington County to detain all D.W.I. arrestees for that length of time regardless of their individual circumstances. According to Logan's allegations, this policy was promulgated by Chief Magistrate Norris Shealy and William Burroughs, who was the Commonwealth Attorney for Arlington County in March 1979 when Logan was arrested, while the three magistrates Shealy, Johnson, and Vance continued to enforce it upon the advice of the present Commonwealth Attorney, Henry Hudson. Application of this detention policy was claimed to violate her fourth amendment right to be free from unreasonable seizure, her eighth amendment rights to be free from excessive bail and from cruel and unusual punishment, and her fourteenth amendment right not to be deprived of her liberty without due process of law. Hudson was sued in his official capacity only; the other defendants were sued in their individual and official capacities.
Logan's third claim concerned the strip search. It was brought against Officer Shortt, Deputy Turner, and Correctional Officer Nava, who escorted her to Deputy Sachtleben; against Sachtleben who allegedly conducted the search in an area exposed to public view; against then Sheriff Clements who promulgated the policy; against Magistrate Shealy and then Commonwealth Attorney Burroughs who advised adoption of the policy; against present Sheriff Gondles who continued to enforce the policy; and against Arlington County whose policy it was alleged to be. The policy as enforced was alleged to be unreasonable in scope and manner, being conducted without a warrant or probable cause, hence to violate unspecified fourth and fourteenth amendment rights, and to constitute cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the eighth amendment. Gondles was sued in his official capacity only; the other defendants were sued in their individual and official capacities. This claim as well as the second was asserted against Arlington County on the basis of Owen v. City of Independence, 445 U.S. 622, 100 S.Ct. 1398, 63 L.Ed.2d 673 (1980), and Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978).
In addition to seeking compensatory and punitive damages from defendants Shealy, Johnson, Vance, Burroughs, Clements, Shortt, Turner, Nava, Sachtleben, and Arlington County, Logan prayed for a declaration that the telephone call, detention, and strip search policies were unconstitutional and for a permanent injunction restraining Shealy, Johnson, Vance, Hudson, Gondles, and Arlington County from enforcing those policies.
Before trial, on Logan's motion, the district court dismissed the claims for monetary relief against the present Commonwealth Attorney, Hudson, and the present Sheriff, Gondles, and all claims against Deputy Turner and Correctional Officer Nava. The remaining defendants moved for summary judgment, and the court granted partial summary judgment to the three...
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