Sellner v. Panagoulis
| Decision Date | 29 December 1982 |
| Docket Number | K-81-3086.,Civ. No. K-81-2798 |
| Citation | 565 F. Supp. 238 |
| Parties | John Eugene SELLNER v. George James PANAGOULIS, etc., et al. John Eugene SELLNER v. Arthur A. MARSHALL, Jr., etc., et al. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Maryland |
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John Eugene Sellner, plaintiff, in pro. per., in Civil Nos. K-81-2798 and K-81-3086.
Robert B. Ostrom, County Atty., Michael O. Connaughton, Deputy County Atty., and Sherrie L. Krauser, Associate County Atty., Upper Marlboro, Md., for defendant George J. Panagoulis in Civil No. K-81-2798 and for defendants Lawrence J. Hogan, John E. McHale, Jr., John W. Rhoads, Joseph D. Vasco, Jr., James Ross and Prince George's County in Civil No. K-81-3086.
John R. Foran and Horowitz, Oneglia, Goldstein, Foran & Parker, P.A., College Park, Md., for defendants John Albert Geier, Betty Mae Geier, Deborah Lynn Edwards and Gene Berry in Civil No. K-81-2798.
Defendants Claire Cecelia Panagoulis, Charles Steven Panagoulis, Evelyn Jean Davis and Lobeda Elizabeth Johnson, defendants, in pro. per. in Civil No. K-81-2798.
Stephen H. Sachs, Atty. Gen., State of Md., and Richard B. Rosenblatt, Asst. Atty. Gen., Baltimore, Md., for defendants Arthur A. Marshall, Jr., and John L. McComas, Jr., in Civil No. K-81-3086.
Plaintiff John Eugene Sellner, proceeding pro se, instituted Panagoulis on October 29, 1981, and Marshall on December 2, 1981. There are a number of factual allegations asserted by Sellner which are common to the two cases and which are taken as true, along with all reasonable inferences in plaintiff's favor running from them, for purposes of the summary judgment motions filed by defendants.
Sellner, a resident of Prince George's County, Maryland, was an active member of the Prince George's County Police Department (Department) from March 11, 1952, until July 1, 1974, at which time he retired with the rank of Sergeant. In January 1977, Sellner became convinced that James Robert Panagoulis was the prime suspect in connection with the January 26, 1968 death of Martha Ann Hudnall, that the death was caused by murder, that the alleged murder was unsolved in January 1977 and had been covered up by James Panagoulis's father, George J. Panagoulis, one of defendants in Panagoulis, who, as of January 1968, was Chief of Police for Prince George's County,1 that then-Chief Panagoulis had involved several members of the Department in removing his son, James, from the State of Maryland in order to prevent the latter's apprehension as the prime suspect in the murder, and that witnesses had observed James Panagoulis at the scene of the murder. Sellner has known James Panagoulis since James was twelve years old, at which time the latter's father became Chief of Police in 1955. Sellner was present in October 1966 when James Panagoulis was brought to the police station in Seat Pleasant, Maryland, charged with assaulting his estranged wife, whom Sellner claims, was the subsequent murder victim, Martha Ann Hudnall.
After Sellner learned of the 1968 cover-up, Sellner "elected to conduct a free lance investigation" of the unsolved murder of Martha Ann Hudnall "after notifying State's Attorney Marshall one of defendants in Marshall ... and other appropriate authorities" that James Panagoulis was the prime suspect in connection with the murder of Martha Ann Hudnall. Subsequently, in May 1977, Sellner located James Panagoulis in Montrose, West Virginia. The latter was then using the alias George Albert Hudnall. Sellner's further investigation revealed that James Panagoulis and George Hudnall had switched lives and identities, in a transition which began on October 14, 1960, at City Post Office, Washington, D.C., continued on November 24, 1962, when James Panagoulis posing as George Hudnall married Martha Ann Geier (who subsequently became the murder victim Martha Ann Hudnall), and culminated with a switch of employment which was finalized in June 1966. George Panagoulis and his wife, Claire Cecelia Panagoulis, also a defendant in Panagoulis, aided and participated in the switch of identities and lives between their son, James Panagoulis, and George Hudnall.
Sellner reported that James Panagoulis was the prime suspect in the murder of Martha Ann Hudnall to Arthur A. Marshall, Jr., the State's Attorney for Prince George's County and one of defendants in Marshall. Marshall then directed State's Attorney Investigator John L. McComas, Jr., Major James Ross and Lt. Col. Joseph D. Vasco, Jr., of the Department (McComas, Ross and Vasco all being defendants in Marshall) and others to conduct an investigation of the unsolved murder. However, Marshall and said investigators knowingly, willingly and deliberately participated in the cover-up of the identity of the murder of Martha Ann Hudnall by switching the identities of James Panagoulis and George Hudnall on May 24 and July 12, 1977, during proceedings conducted by the Prince George's County Grand Jury April 1977 Term (the "1977 grand jury switch"), thereby obstructing that Grand Jury from returning any indictments and maintaining the status quo of Chief Panagoulis's 1968 cover-up.
Sellner's efforts to appear before subsequent grand juries were thwarted by Marshall and McComas who rejected the presentation of any new evidence. On December 2, 1980, Sellner received a letter from Marshall "completely denying plaintiff access to the Courts." That letter, attached as Exhibit D to Sellner's Complaint in Marshall, advised Sellner that Marshall had given instructions "to nolle pros any charging document that might be issued by the Commissioner upon Sellner's application," but suggested that Sellner contact either the Maryland State Prosecutor or the Maryland State Attorney General's Office "and advise them that I Marshall would be most happy to assist them in any way they deem appropriate to prosecute allegations of wrongdoing, which you Sellner might bring to the attention of the courts."
In a letter dated February 4, 1981, attached as Exhibit E to Sellner's Complaint in Marshall, the Foreman of the Prince George's County Grand Jury October 1980 Term invited Sellner to appear before that Grand Jury "for the purpose of presenting new evidence in the Martha Ann Hudnall murder case." However, Marshall effectively obstructed that Grand Jury from returning any indictments "by refusing to obtain documents, records or summoned sic or provide an assistant State's Attorney to guide the Grand Jury."
Beginning in January 1978, Sellner went "public" with his information concerning the cover-up of the identity of the murderer of Martha Ann Hudnall and the 1977 grand jury switch. As a result of publicizing that information, Sellner was sued in this Court for libel and slander by James Panagoulis, whom Sellner alleges was using the alias George Hudnall, in Civil No. HM-78-1451. The subsequent publicity which ensued from the filing of that suit led Sellner to learn of the whereabouts of the "real" George Hudnall, whom Sellner observed on December 6, 1978, in Coral Springs, Florida. Sellner further learned that the "real" George Hudnall had been living in Florida since May 1968 under the alias of James Panagoulis. Then on April 18, 1979, Sellner obtained a warrant in Montgomery County, Maryland, for James Panagoulis alias George Hudnall for committing bigamy on May 10, 1969, when he (Panagoulis) married his then-current wife, Carol May Vandevender, also a plaintiff in Civil No. HM-78-1451. That warrant was subsequently nolle prosequied by Montgomery County Deputy State's Attorney Timothy E. Clarke as a result of action taken by former Chief Panagoulis, McComas, Ross and several of the defendants in Panagoulis. A subsequent warrant for bigamy was nolle prosequied on December 20, 1979. A third such warrant was filed on January 8, 1981, but apparently was not executed.
On April 20, 1979, Sellner was sued by the "real" George Hudnall under the alias James Panagoulis in Civil No. HM-79-786. In June 1979 that case was consolidated with Civil No. HM-78-1451. The consolidated actions went to trial in July 1981 before Judge Ramsey of this Court as Civil No. R-78-1451. After a ten-day trial, plaintiffs therein obtained a large monetary judgment against Sellner, a judgment which Sellner claims resulted from a conspiracy among the defendants in Panagoulis to conceal the true identity of plaintiffs in Civil No. R-78-1451 in order to avoid involvement of those defendants as accessories to the bigamous marriage of James Panagoulis (acting under the alias George Hudnall) to Martha Ann Geier (the subsequent murder victim Martha Ann Hudnall) on November 24, 1962, and as accessories to the subsequent murder of Martha Ann Hudnall on January 26, 1968.
Sellner also claims that the judgment against him in Civil No. R-78-1451 resulted from the conspiracy among Marshall, Vasco, Ross, McComas and John W. Rhoads, former Chief of Police for Prince George's County, all defendants in Marshall, to obstruct justice by concealing the true identity of the two male plaintiffs in Civil No. R-78-1451 and from the failure and refusal of Lawrence J. Hogan, County Executive for Prince George's County, and John E. McHale, Jr., Chief of Police for Prince George's County, both also defendants in Marshall, to take appropriate executive and police action with regard to the 1968 cover-up and the 1977 grand jury switch.
Sellner contends that as of today the cover-up of the switch of identities and lives between James Panagoulis and George Hudnall conceals a multitude of crimes including two bigamous marriages (one each by Panagoulis and Hudnall) and three unsolved murders in addition to the unsolved murder of Martha Ann Hudnall and that James Panagoulis is the prime suspect in all four murders.
In Panagoulis, Sellner has named as defendants George James Panagoulis, the father of James Panagoulis,...
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