Prince George's County v. Longtin

• Citation: 19 A.3d 859,419 Md. 450
• Decision Date: 16 June 2011
• Docket Number: 2010.,No. 35,Sept. Term,35
• Parties: PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, Maryland, et al.v.Keith LONGTIN.
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

419 Md. 450

19 A.3d 859

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, Maryland, et al.

v.Keith LONGTIN.

No. 35

Sept. Term

2010.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

April 25, 2011.Reconsideration Denied June 16, 2011.

Rajesh A. Kumar, Acting Deputy County Atty. (Stephanie P. Anderson, County Atty., and Peggie N. McWhorter, Associate County Atty., Upper Marlboro, MD), on brief, for petitioners.Car J. Hansel (Timothy F. Maloney, Steven B. Vinick, and Joseph M. Creed of Joseph, Greenwald & Laake, P.A., Greenbelt, MD), on brief, for respondent.David M. Funk, Esq., Karen J. Kruger, Esq., Funk & Bolton, P.A., Baltimore, MD, for Amicus Curiae brief of Local Government Insurance Trust.Deborah A. Jeon, Esq., Ajmel Quereshi, Esq., American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, for Amici Curiae brief of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland and the Public Justice Center.Argued before BELL, C.J., HARRELL, BATTAGLIA, GREENE, MURPHY, ADKINS and BARBERA, JJ.ADKINS, J.

In this case, we must decide the extent to which the Local Government Tort Claims Act (the “LGTCA”) ¹ limits the recovery of a man whose constitutional rights have been violated by a local government and its police force. Respondent Keith Longtin was arrested, interrogated for over 36 hours, and charged with the rape and murder of his wife. He was held in prison for over eight months. During his stay in prison, the Prince George's County Police Department (the “Department”) obtained exculpatory DNA evidence and evidence of a serial rapist in the area where Longtin's wife was killed, but failed to inform Longtin or release him. Only when the Department confirmed, through a DNA match, that the crime was committed by the other suspect, did it release Longtin from prison.

Longtin sued the Department, Prince George's County, and individual officers, ² (together, the “Defendants”) and obtained a jury verdict totaling $6.2 million. The Defendants noted an appeal, and the Court of Special Appeals affirmed the verdict. The Defendants then petitioned this Court, and we granted a writ of certiorari to review the following questions, rephrased for the sake of clarity and brevity:

1. Whether the Respondent's claim is precluded for a failure to comply with the notice requirements of the LGTCA?

2. Whether the LGTCA damage cap applies to a monetary award against a local government and/or its employees for violations of the Maryland Constitution and limits the recovery awarded by the trial court?

3. Whether Maryland recognizes a “ Monell-type” ³ claim based on a “pattern or practice” violation of the Maryland Constitution?

4. Whether the trial court abused its discretion in allowing introduction of evidence of exculpatory DNA results and the subsequent conviction and crimes of another person for that murder?We shall affirm.

FACTS AND LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

1. The Murder of Donna Zinetti

Longtin and Donna Zinetti met in Prince George's County, Maryland, in 1998. They married a few months later, moving into an apartment in Laurel, MD. The relationship was troubled from the start, and the couple eventually separated, Longtin moving out of their home and into a friend's apartment. By October 4, 1999, Longtin and Zinetti had been separated for approximately 2 weeks.

In the afternoon of October 4, 1999, Donna Zinetti's body was discovered in the woods behind her apartment. She had been raped and stabbed to death while jogging sometime on October 4th. Upon discovery of the body, police began a criminal homicide investigation.

Police investigating the crime quickly learned of an altercation between Longtin and Zinetti the day preceding her murder, October 3, 1999, a Sunday. That morning, Longtin and Zinetti attended Zinetti's church. After the service, Longtin overheard a comment from a member of the church to Zinetti, and became enraged, suspecting an extramarital affair. After arguing with Zinetti and church members, Longtin was approached by another man, who attempted to calm him. Longtin pushed the man, ran to his truck, and rapidly exited the church parking lot. After learning of this incident, the Criminal Investigation Division (“CID”) considered Longtin a suspect.

The next day, not having heard from Zinetti, Longtin called the Prince George's County police to report her as a missing person. Though Longtin was already a suspect, the police “went along” with him and arranged a meeting purportedly to get him to sign a missing persons form. The officer who took the call then wrote a note to the lead detective informing him of the arranged meeting, and closing with “Good luck: Get him!” Soon after that, Longtin saw on a television news report that a female's body had been discovered near Zinetti's apartment complex. Longtin traveled to the scene.

When he arrived at the crime scene, he approached a police officer, identified himself, and asked for more information. The officer, recognizing Longtin as a suspect, called the CID and asked for guidance. He then approached Longtin, asked him to get into his police cruiser, and took him to the interrogation room in the Landover police station.

Longtin was questioned over the next twenty-seven hours ⁴ by multiple police officers, and Longtin repeatedly and “emphatically” denied killing his wife. Longtin testified that he requested a lawyer during the interview, and his cell phone records show attempted calls to two different lawyers from the interrogation room. Although they had taken his belt, wallet, shoelaces, and at some point, his cell phone, the officers maintained that Longtin was not under arrest during this interrogation, thus justifying their decision not to advise him of his Miranda rights or present him to a commissioner within the 24–hour period required by Md. Rule 4–212. As Longtin later described, he was unable to sleep during the interrogation.

During this “marathon” investigation, Longtin revealed some suspicious details. Longtin mentioned Zinetti's “walkman,” which was found by her body at the crime scene, a detail the police believed only the killer would know. Longtin also told an officer that the police would “never find” the knife used in the murder. Moreover, Longtin's boss reported to police that Longtin had called her on the morning of Zinetti's murder (after their dispute at church), and said he was in Canada to visit his sick father and would not be in to work that day.

After approximately twenty hours in interrogation, one detective asked Longtin a series of “what if” questions, asking him to imagine how the murder took place. Longtin responded that he had a vision in which someone grabbed Zinetti from behind in the kitchen hallway, holding a kitchen knife to her throat. At that point, another officer took over the interrogation, and resumed the questioning. Longtin, who had not slept for about 24 hours, provided more details to this officer regarding his vision, stating that he would have gone to Zinetti's home around 11:30 p.m., where he would have pushed Zinetti to the floor. He stated that Zinetti would have left her house to go for a run, after which he would have gone into the kitchen, grabbed a knife, and begun to chase her.

On October 7, 1999, Keith Longtin was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife. Longtin was presented to a commissioner that day, and police prepared a Statement of Probable Cause, which read as followed:

On 10–4–99 at about 1343 hrs the victim, Donna Zinetti was found dead in the wooded area along the 13100 block of Larchdale Rd Laurel, Prince George's County, Maryland. The victim was subsequently transported to the medical examiner's office in Baltimore, Maryland [where] a post-mortem exam was performed and the ruling of her death was a homicide.

During this investigation the Def[endant] who is the victims estranged husband volunteered to come in and talk with investigators about this incident. While interviewing the Def[endant,] he was developed as a suspect. At that point the Def[endant] was advised [of] his constitutional rights and subsequently admitted to be[ing] involved in this case.

The defendant admitted to having a verbal and physical altercation at the victim's apartment. The defendant gave details about this case that had not been released to the media and only the perpetrator would have known. He stated that during the altercation the victim ran out of her apartment and that he ran after her with a knife. The defendant knew that the victim had been stabbed several times and that the stabbing occurred in the wooded area near the victim's apartment.

Longtin was then held in jail, awaiting trial.

Significantly, the Statement listed Longtin's responses to the “what if” questions as though they were factual admissions. The Statement declared that Longtin “admitted to having a verbal and physical altercation at the victim's apartment[,]” even though Longtin had maintained that he was at home on the night of the murder, and only described the “altercation” at her apartment in response to a “what if” question after nearly twenty hours of interrogation. The Statement also included Longtin's statement that “the victim ran out of her apartment and that he ran after her with a knife[,]” an “admission” which directly followed his other hypothetical, “what if” statements.⁵

During the investigation, the police collected two possible DNA samples which could have implicated Longtin. Besides comparing Longtin's DNA with the DNA of the perpetrator, they also detected a blood sample on Longtin's couch, and compared that to Zinetti's DNA. On January 20, 2000, the Crime Laboratory Division of the Maryland State Police (“Crime Lab”) completed its examination of the couch sample, and sent a letter to Detective Herndon that the test showed the blood was neither Longtin's nor Zinetti's. Then, on February 23, 2000, the Crime Lab completed its investigation of the DNA found on the vaginal swabs, and concluded that Longtin was “excluded as [a] possible...