Snyder v. City of Alexandria

• Decision Date: 30 November 1994
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 94-528-A.
• Citation: 870 F. Supp. 672
• Parties: Walter T. SNYDER, Plaintiff, v. CITY OF ALEXANDRIA, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Virginia

870 F. Supp. 672

Walter T. SNYDER, Plaintiff, v. CITY OF ALEXANDRIA, et al., Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 94-528-A.

United States District Court, E.D. Virginia.

November 30, 1994.

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Elise R. Lapidus, Law Offices of George D. Varoutsos, Arlington, VA, for plaintiff.

Philip G. Sunderland, City Atty., George Andrews, Asst. City Atty., Alexandria, VA, for defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

ELLIS, District Judge.

Walter T. Snyder, convicted of rape and other charges by a Virginia jury, spent nearly seven years in prison before being pardoned as a result of DNA tests that indicated his innocence. Snyder believes his conviction was not merely a regrettable error, but resulted instead from police misconduct that violated his common-law and constitutional rights. Accordingly, he sues here, under a number of federal and state law theories, to recover damages from the City of Alexandria and three of the City's police officers. Treated here are the issues raised by defendants' threshold dismissal motion.

I¹

On October 28, 1985, the Police Department of the City of Alexandria assigned Detective Barry Shiftic to investigate a complaint of rape, sodomy, and burglary received that day. The victim described her assailant as a black male who wore red shorts, a grey hooded sweatshirt, and white tennis shoes. In the first of many conflicts between Snyder's and the police officers' versions of these events, Snyder alleges that the victim, at this time, also informed Shiftic that she could not see the man's face, because the room was too dark. According to Snyder, Shiftic withheld this statement from Snyder's defense counsel.

After interviewing the victim, Shiftic canvassed the neighborhood to obtain information about the crime. He spoke to two neighbors who had seen Snyder, a black male who lived across the street from the victim, in his (Snyder's) front yard several hours prior to the rape. According to Snyder, the two witnesses reported to Shiftic that Snyder was not wearing a shirt at the time, and Shiftic unsuccessfully pressured the two witnesses to change their statements to fit more closely the victim's description of her assailant as wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt.² On November 8, 1985, Shiftic obtained a warrant to search Snyder's home, stating in the supporting affidavit that the witnesses had seen Snyder wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt, and that Snyder had admitted that he owned such a sweatshirt. Snyder denies that statement, and no such sweatshirt was ever found.

Also on November 8, Shiftic met with the victim and showed her photographs of several individuals. She tentatively selected Snyder's photo, although she noted she was not certain he was her assailant. Three days later, the victim observed Snyder washing his car in his driveway. At Snyder's trial, the victim testified that this observation was insignificant to her at the time, and that she did not report it to the police until after learning from the police that Snyder lived across the street from her house and was a suspect. In sharp contrast to the victim's testimony, Shiftic testified at trial that the victim called the police immediately after seeing Snyder washing his car, and that she had not previously been told Snyder's name, where he lived, or that he was a suspect.

On January 29, 1986, Snyder went to the Alexandria police station to retrieve clothing seized pursuant to the search warrant in November. Shiftic refused to return the clothing, indicating that it was evidence in an ongoing investigation. The next day, Snyder returned to the station seeking return of his clothing. Shiftic asked Officer George Burnham to escort Snyder to the building's lobby, and wait there with him. Shiftic then telephoned the victim and asked her to come to the station where, upon arrival, she identified Snyder as her assailant in a "show-up," a face to face confrontation with the accused.

Shiftic, Burnham, and Officer Russell Peverall then questioned Snyder about the rape. Although Snyder alleges that he consistently maintained his innocence, the three police officers contend that Snyder confessed to committing the rape. After the officers arrested Snyder and handcuffed him to his chair in the interrogation room, Shiftic removed a number of hairs from Snyder's head. When Snyder blew the hairs off the table, Snyder claims Shiftic struck him in the face. At one point, Snyder attempted to leave the room, still handcuffed to the chair. Several officers restrained him and, in the process, Snyder suffered a broken nose and an injured shoulder. After Snyder was subdued, Shiftic pulled down Snyder's pants and removed a pubic hair. Snyder claims that the officers then moved him, with his pants at his ankles, to a public area of the police headquarters.

Snyder pled not guilty to charges of rape, cunnilingus, anal intercourse, aggravated sexual battery, and breaking and entering. Snyder raised several objections to the evidence presented against him, including (i) a motion to exclude evidence of his alleged confession of January 30, 1986, because he was not given Miranda warnings, (ii) a motion to suppress all evidence seized from his house pursuant to the November 1985 search warrant, on the ground that there was no probable cause for the warrant, (iii) a motion to suppress the victim's January 30, 1986 "show up" identification, on the ground that the procedure employed was unconstitutionally suggestive, and (iv) a motion to suppress the head and pubic hairs taken on January 30, 1986, as the results of an unreasonable seizure. The state trial court ruled against Snyder on each point.

On June 25, 1986, a jury in the Alexandria Circuit Court convicted Snyder on all charges,³ and the court sentenced him to forty-five years in prison. Snyder appealed each of the trial court's evidentiary rulings to the Virginia Court of Appeals, but that court denied each of his contentions, upholding the conviction and the sentence. Snyder v. Virginia, No. 0300-87-4 (Va.Ct.App. June 5, 1990); Snyder v. Virginia, No. 0300-87-4 (Va.Ct.App. Dec. 15, 1989). The Supreme Court of Virginia refused Snyder's petition for appeal.

Snyder remained in prison for nearly seven years. In May 1992, state officials agreed to release evidence from Snyder's case for DNA testing. On October 28, 1992, a private laboratory in Boston returned test results indicating that Snyder did not commit the rape for which he was convicted. Additional testing confirmed that result. Thereafter, armed with these test results, the Commonwealth's Attorney joined Snyder's counsel in requesting a pardon from Virginia Governor L. Douglas Wilder. Governor Wilder granted Snyder an absolute pardon on April 23, 1993, explaining that, while he found no fault with the prosecution or the jury's verdict as rendered on the evidence available at the time, the DNA test results "place a cloud upon the verdict and raise a doubt concerning the ultimate issue of whether Walter Tyrone Snyder, Jr. is guilty of the crime for which he was convicted."⁴ Snyder was released from prison on the day the Governor signed the pardon.

Subsequent to his release from prison, Snyder filed a complaint with the Alexandria Police Department concerning the conduct of the officers who investigated his case. In February 1994, the Chief of Police, Charles E. Samarra, informed Snyder that the department's "finding was that the actions of the officers involved in the investigation of your case from October 1985 through January 1986 were lawfully appropriate and within the guidelines established by Department policy."

In addition to filing the administrative complaint, Snyder petitioned the Alexandria Circuit Court to have his criminal record expunged. On January 11, 1994, the court granted the petition, noting that expungement was appropriate because:

"Virginia Governor L. Douglas Wilder granted Petitioner's request for clemency on April 23, 1993; and ... the continued existence of said information relating to the arrest and conviction of said Petitioner causes or may cause circumstances which constitute manifest injustice of the Petitioner."

In September 1994, the City returned to the Alexandria Circuit Court with a motion to set aside Snyder's expungement order. This motion argued that the jurisdictional requirements for expungement were not met. Virginia law provides for expungement where the petitioner was acquitted, where nolle prosequi was taken or the charge otherwise dismissed, or where the petitioner was "granted an absolute pardon for the commission of a crime for which he has been unjustly convicted." Va.Code § 19.2-392.2(A). The City argued that the Governor's pardon did not establish that Snyder was unjustly convicted, as the Governor expressly found no fault with the earlier criminal proceedings or the jury's verdict. The Circuit Court declined to set aside the expungement, finding that it met the jurisdictional requirements of § 19.2-392.2. The City is currently appealing this ruling to the Supreme Court of Virginia.

In April 1994, slightly less than one year after the issuance of his pardon, Snyder filed this action, against the City of Alexandria and Officers Shiftic, Burnham, and Peverall, alleging two constitutional tort claims and three state common-law claims. Specifically, Snyder's five claims may be summarized as follows:

• Count I alleges that the City and the three defendant officers violated Snyder's Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendment rights, in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

• Count II asserts that the three officers conspired to misrepresent their January 30, 1986 conversation with Snyder as a confession, in violation of § 1983.

• Count III alleges common-law malicious prosecution against the three officers.

• Count IV alleges common-law battery against Shiftic.

• Count V asserts that the City is liable on the basis of respondeat superior for the common-law torts of its police

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