Smith v. Reddy
| Citation | 101 F.3d 351 |
| Decision Date | 27 November 1996 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 95-1956,96-1456,s. 95-1956 |
| Parties | Robert J. SMITH, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Sylvia J. REDDY, Officer; Baltimore County, Maryland, a body corporate and politic, Defendants-Appellees. Robert J. SMITH, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Sylvia J. REDDY, Officer; Baltimore County, Maryland, a body corporate and politic, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (4th Circuit) |
ARGUED: William Francis Gately, H. Thomas Howell, Howell, Gately, Whitney & Carter, Towson, MD, for Appellant. Michael Allan Fry, Assistant County Attorney, Baltimore County Office of Law, Towson, MD, for Appellees. ON BRIEF: Kathleen D. Leslie, Howell, Gately, Whitney & Carter, Towson MD, for Appellant. Virginia H. Barnhart, County Attorney, Gregory E. Gaskins, Assistant County Attorney, Baltimore County Office of Law, Towson, MD, for Appellees.
Before ERVIN and NIEMEYER, Circuit Judges, and BUTZNER, Senior Circuit Judge.
Affirmed by published opinion. Senior Judge BUTZNER wrote the opinion, in which Judge ERVIN and Judge NIEMEYER joined.
Robert Smith, suing under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, asserts that Officer Sylvia Reddy of the Baltimore County Police Department violated the Fourth Amendment by arresting him and searching his house without probable cause. Although Reddy procured warrants authorizing these actions, Smith contends that Reddy's affidavits, filed in support of the warrants, contain false statements and omit material facts, making her reliance on the warrants unreasonable. In response, Reddy argues that she is entitled to qualified immunity from civil liability because she acted in an objectively reasonable manner. The district court agreed with Reddy and granted her motion for summary judgment. Smith v. Reddy, 882 F.Supp. 497 (D.Md.1995). Smith appealed.
While Smith's appeal was pending in this court, he filed a motion in the district court under Rule 60(b)(2) and (3) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to vacate and set aside the summary judgment. Based on allegedly newly discovered evidence, Smith claimed that the affidavits supporting Reddy's motion for summary judgment included misrepresentations. The district court denied the motion, and Smith again appealed. Both parties have briefed the second appeal, and we now consolidate both appeals. We review the district court's grant of summary judgment de novo, Hodge v. Jones, 31 F.3d 157, 163 (4th Cir.1994), and its denial of the Rule 60(b)(2) and (3) motion for abuse of discretion. National Organization for Women v. Operation Rescue, 47 F.3d 667, 669 (4th Cir.1995).
After careful review of the record, we find that Reddy's conduct was objectively reasonable and affirm the summary judgment that granted her immunity. However, we reach that conclusion by an analysis that differs somewhat from the district court's. We also affirm the denial of the Rule 60(b) motion because Smith has not shown fraud or misrepresentation by clear and convincing evidence.
The historical facts are not in serious dispute. In the early morning of December 17, 1993, the Baltimore County Police Department was notified that someone had fired a gun into the front door of Christopher's Nightclub, causing no injuries. When the first officers arrived, they were directed to Ms. Lisa Young, a 25-year-old who claimed to be the intended victim of the shooting. At least one of the officers knew that Young had a "bad" reputation in the police department. Young was visibly intoxicated, and, initially, she was uncooperative and reluctant to talk with the officers.
Eventually Young told the interviewing officer that she believed Robert Smith was the gunman. She explained that she and Smith, her boyfriend of eight months, had come to the club together in his black Rolls Royce, which he had parked in the fire lane in front of the club. Shortly after entering the club, Smith became jealous when Young kissed a bartender she knew. He grabbed her by the arm and threatened to kill her. The bartender later confirmed that, when Young kissed him, the man with her became angry and led her away by the arm. According to Young, after having a few drinks, Smith repeated his threat to kill her twice more, once if she refused to leave the club and a second time if she refused to get into his car. Although Young did follow Smith to his car, she then told him she did not want to see him again, threw the ring he had given her into the car, and returned to the club. Back inside a few minutes later, she heard gunshots. Because she had seen a gun hidden under the seat of Smith's car on other occasions, she believed he was shooting at her, so she fled to the women's room.
The police on the scene also interviewed Mr. John Bukofsky and Mr. Jonathan Hawes, who were in the parking lot when the shooting occurred. Shortly before the shooting, they saw the club's bouncer refuse to admit a young white male, wearing a red and white ski jacket. A few moments later, they heard six gunshots and saw a gun flashing. After the shots were fired, Hawes saw the same young man running from the area where the shooting had occurred up a hill to the nearby Padonia Road. Neither witness saw the person firing the shots. Hawes gave an officer six .45 caliber shell casings and showed him where they had been found. The club's bouncer reported that, moments before the shooting, he had turned away a young male wearing a faded blue jacket and had confiscated the driver's license presented by the youth. The name Mark Tilton and a Cockeysville address appear on the license.
Later that day, the case was assigned to Officer Reddy. After reading the initial reports and talking with the officers who had been on the scene, Reddy interviewed Young. Young confirmed that she believed Smith was responsible for the shooting, but admitted she had not seen a gun in his car on the previous night. Young directed Reddy to Smith's house. They met Smith and he agreed to talk with Reddy. During the interview, Smith confirmed that he had accompanied Young to the club, he had been displeased with her conduct, he had decided to leave, they had walked to his car, and she had returned to the club. Smith denied threatening Young, trying to force her to leave with him, or keeping a gun in his car. He also denied shooting at the club or even being aware of the shooting. Reddy asked Smith to consent to a chemical test of his hands that would determine whether he had recently fired a gun. Smith agreed. Despite Smith's consent, the test was not conducted. According to Reddy, she later learned that the test would not have been reliable because too much time had passed since the shooting. Smith told Reddy that he owned four guns, two AK-47s, one 30-30 Winchester, and a .32 automatic pistol.
In addition to interviewing Smith, Reddy attempted to contact Mark Tilton. On December 18, Reddy and another officer spoke with Ms. Deborah Tilton, who reported that her three sons, Mark (age 21), Rodney (age 23), and Kirk (age 17), lived with her but were away for the weekend. Asked if any of her sons had lost their wallets recently, Ms. Tilton said Mark had lost his wallet in February, 1993 somewhere in Cockeysville. In response to further questions, she informed the officers that her sons had not been home on the previous evening, but that none of them owned a gun, a red and white ski jacket, or a blue ski jacket. She said Kirk had been at his aunt's house baking cookies at the time of the shooting. Ms. Tilton did not know where her sons were or when they would come home, but promised to call Reddy when they returned. Ms. Tilton never called and Reddy made no further attempts to contact her sons.
Reddy telephoned Smith on December 20 in an attempt to gather additional information. During the conversation, Reddy asked Smith if he knew why the attacker fired the shots through the club's front door rather than the window. Smith replied, "I guess that's where Lisa was standing at." Reddy then asked Smith why he thought the attack was aimed at Lisa. Smith fell silent. He ended the conversation after Reddy indicated that only the attacker would know the identity of the intended victim.
On December 21, Reddy interviewed Mr. Dennis Bazuine, who was at the club on the night of the shooting. Although Bazuine did not see the shooting, he had spoken with a patron who claimed he saw it. On January 6, he introduced Reddy to Mr. Kevin Earle. Earle told Reddy he had been in the club's parking lot at the time of the shooting. He said he saw the gunman, who was wearing a multicolored ski jacket, firing the shots. Earle recognized him as an older gentleman who regularly parked his black Rolls Royce in the fire lane in front of the club. After the man fired the shots, Earle saw him run up a hill and get into a car on Padonia Road. He did not see the black Rolls Royce on the club's parking lot at that time. Reddy asked Earle why he had not reported this information to the police earlier. He explained that he did tell an officer on the scene what he had witnessed. Earle also told Reddy that he did not know Young.
On January 10, 1994, Reddy sought a warrant for the arrest of Robert Smith. Three days later she sought a warrant authorizing a search of Smith's house. Both warrants were issued and executed. Smith was charged with attempted murder, assault, handgun violations, and reckless endangerment. At a pretrial hearing during which Smith challenged the state's evidence, the state court determined that sufficient evidence existed to remand the case for trial. Following a bench trial, Smith was acquitted of all charges.
On January 17, 1995, Smith filed this case in district court. The district court found that Reddy was entitled to qualified immunity and granted her motion for summary judgment. The district court denied Smith's subsequent motion to vacate and set aside the judgment. Smith appealed...
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