State v. Dett, 25, September Term, 2005.

• Decision Date: 07 February 2006
• Docket Number: No. 25, September Term, 2005.,25, September Term, 2005.
• Citation: 891 A.2d 1113,391 Md. 81
• Parties: STATE of Maryland, et al. v. Evelyn DETT.
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

891 A.2d 1113

391 Md. 81

STATE of Maryland, et al. v. Evelyn DETT.

No. 25, September Term, 2005.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

February 7, 2006.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Glenn T. Marrow, Assistant Attorney General (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Attorney General of Maryland, on brief), of Baltimore, for petitioners.

Randall J. Craig, Jr. (Craig & Henderson, L.L.C., on brief), of Baltimore, for respondent.

Argued before BELL, C.J., RAKER, WILNER, CATHELL, HARRELL, BATTAGLIA, and GREENE, JJ.

WILNER, J.

The issue before us is whether, in an action under the Maryland Tort Claims Act (Md.Code, §§ 12-101 through 12-110 of the State Government Article), the State may be found liable for false imprisonment, negligence, or violation of the plaintiff's rights under Article 24 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights when (1) the plaintiff is arrested and brought to a State detention facility by a police officer in the mistaken belief that the plaintiff is the person against whom an arrest warrant has been issued, (2) the detention facility learns through its own investigation that the plaintiff is probably not the person named in the warrant or in an implementing commitment order issued by the local sheriff and there is no other legal basis for holding the plaintiff, and (3) the detention facility nonetheless continues to detain the plaintiff for a significant period of time. We shall answer that question in the affirmative.

BACKGROUND

At approximately 5:00 in the afternoon of Friday, March 7, 2003, respondent, Evelyn Yulonda Dett, was stopped for a traffic violation by Baltimore City Housing Authority police officer Darven Moore. A presumably routine background check by Officer Moore revealed the existence of an outstanding warrant for the arrest of Vanessa Hawkins "AKA Evelyn Dett." The warrant was issued by the Circuit Court for Baltimore City on July 31, 2002, for violation of probation (VOP). Although Ms. Dett protested that she was not Vanessa Hawkins, it is not clear, as there is no statement from Officer Moore in the record, if the officer made any further investigation to determine whether Ms. Dett was, in fact, the person named in the warrant.

The warrant, No. 802134014, identified Ms. Hawkins as a black female born July 11, 1963, with a "SID" number of 381961. A SID (State Identification) number is a unique number directly linked to an individual's fingerprints. Because of that link, no two persons should have the same SID number; nor, if the proper procedures are followed, should a person ever have more than one SID number.¹ The warrant directed any law enforcement officer to apprehend Ms. Hawkins and commit her to the Baltimore City Jail — now known as the Baltimore City Detention Center — pending a hearing on the VOP charge, permitted her to post bail in the amount of $10,000, identified Tobi Thomas as the responsible Division of Parole and Probation agent, and gave a telephone number and address where that agent could be reached. How much of that information was known by Officer Moore is not clear.

Obviously in the belief that the person stopped was, in fact, the person named in the warrant, Officer Moore delivered Ms. Dett to the Baltimore City Central Booking and Intake Center (CBIC) at 5:50 p.m. CBIC is a facility operated by the Division of Pretrial Detention and Services of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS). Within the next hour, Ms. Dett was "booked," photographed, and fingerprinted. By 6:35 p.m., CBIC had received, or become aware of, a commitment order issued by the Baltimore City Sheriff to the Warden of the Baltimore City Detention Center, directing the warden to receive into his custody the body of Vanessa Hawkins, identified as a black female born July 11, 1963, with a SID number 381961, "committed to await further action of the Circuit Court for Baltimore City." Pursuant to that order, entries were made in the CBIC log, "DO NOT RLSE SUBJECT BOOKED ON CIRCUIT CT # 802134014." Presumably in conformance with the commitment order, all of the CBIC records identify Ms. Dett as Vanessa Hawkins. The inmate file created by CBIC is in the name of Vanessa Hawkins.

At 6:44 p.m., Ms. Dett's fingerprints were sent to the Central Records unit which, within about a half hour, responded with a SID number of 2413966. That number, of course, was different from the SID number on both the warrant and the commitment order. The response, along with an "ID Completed Flag," was placed into the Vanessa Hawkins inmate record at 7:22 p.m. Ten minutes later, Ms. Dett was placed in a group cell at CBIC, where she remained until early the next morning, when she was transferred to the Detention Center.² At some point during the evening, the discrepancy in SID numbers was noted. Debora Driver, the Director of Central Records for CBIC, sent a "SID Problem Form" to the shift commander. The form stated as its subject, "SID PROBLEMS," noted the two SID numbers, and explained that "defendant has 2 SID # s — Commitment has been entered into the system under 2413966. I contacted fingerprint who insisted that this is the correct #. I spoke to Ada who said that they could not do anything until Monday 3/10/03." Copies of that form were placed in both the inmate file and a "Sid Problem binder." At or about the same time, Ms. Driver prepared and filed a "Problem Paperwork Notice," again noting that "defendant has 2 SID # s," that the problem would keep her from being released, and asking "Please clarify with fingerprint the correct # to be used."

The record does not indicate who "Ada" was, but, in its brief in this Court, the State acknowledges that the person or persons contacted by Ms. Driver were "fingerprint technicians at the Criminal Justice Information System" (CJIS), also a unit and operation of DPSCS. They were, in other words, CJIS, and State, employees.

Prior to Ms. Dett's transfer to the Detention Center, CBIC became aware of other discrepancies, beyond the two SID numbers. An Offender Booking Information Report in the CBIC file shows a birth date of February 6, 1962, for the Vanessa Hawkins supposedly being held by CBIC — which, in fact, was Ms. Dett's actual birth date — whereas both the VOP warrant and the sheriff's commitment order show a birth date of July 11, 1963 for the Vanessa Hawkins who was the subject of the warrant and commitment order. At 6:19 a.m. on March 8, CBIC sent an inquiry to CJIS to identify the person with SID number 2413966, and the response came back "No exact matched record on file." CBIC immediately sent another request to CJIS to identify the person with SID number 381961.

At some point not later than 11:22 a.m., CJIS reported that SID number 381961 was that of Vanessa Ann Hawkins, alias Evelyn Y. Dett. The response also showed two Social Security numbers, neither of which matched that of Ms. Dett, and two dates of birth, one matching the date on the commitment order for Vanessa Hawkins and one being that of Ms. Dett. The response revealed as well an FBI number, fingerprint information, eight prior contacts that Vanessa Hawkins had with CBIC, and a height and weight for Vanessa Hawkins that were slightly, but not significantly, different from those of Ms. Dett. The prior CBIC contacts that were listed included the date and CBIC case number for each contact.

Despite these unexplained inconsistencies — the different SID numbers, the nonmatching Social Security numbers, the different dates of birth, the discrepancy in height (two inches) — and the additional information that could have led to some clarification (the probation officer's number, the FBI number, the prior CBIC contact information) no further effort was made over the weekend to investigate whether the person being held, Ms. Dett, was, in fact, the Vanessa Hawkins who was the subject of the warrant and commitment order. At some point on Monday, March 10, CBIC received a response from a Tracey Powell to the Problem Paperwork Notice sent by Ms. Driver on March 7. Ms. Powell stated that "these are two different people. Correct SID # 2413966 for Vanessa Hawkins DOB 2-6-1962. SID # 381961 belongs to Evelyn Dett who used Vanessa Hawkins as AKA. DOB 7-11-63." CBIC responded:

"[Y]ou still did not tell us which SID is correct for Vanessa Hawkins born 2-10-62 # 2413966 is that the correct SID # also the DOB on the release is for the inmate w/DOB of 7-11-63, but uses the DOB of 2-6-62. We need to have the lady fingerprinted again since the release had the DOB different from what is on the offender booking sheet."

The record does not reveal any response to that communication. Nothing more was done on March 10 to resolve the issue. CBIC had a photograph of Ms. Dett, which presumably was taken when she was booked on March 7. At some undefined point, either CBIC or the Detention Center received a copy of a photograph of the Vanessa Hawkins who was the subject of the warrant and commitment order and had the SID number 381961. The women depicted in the two photographs are somewhat similar but by no means identical in appearance.

At 10:27 a.m. on March 11, 2003, the Central Records Office of the DPSCS Division of Pretrial Detention and Services, which operates both CBIC and the Detention Center, sent a request to "Bonnie" in the Circuit Court for a "court seal + true test" for Vanessa Hawkins, SID 992413966. Within an hour, the sheriff sent to the Warden of the Detention Center an order to release "Vanessa Hawkins" with SID number 2413966, noting "WRONG DEFENDANT." The record does not reveal the basis on which the sheriff reached that conclusion. Upon receipt of that directive, the Detention Center promptly commenced the process for releasing Ms. Dett. She was, in fact, released at 1:00 p.m. She had remained in detention for three full days and the better part of a fourth.

In April, 2003, Ms. Dett filed a claim with the State Treasurer under the Maryland Tort Claims Act. When that claim was...