Weimer v. Cnty. of Fayette

• Decision Date: 19 July 2022
• Docket Number: Civil Action 17-1265,Re: ECF 183,186,188,193,209,223
• Parties: CRYSTAL DAWN WEIMER, Plaintiff, v. COUNTY OF FAYETTE, PENNSYLVANIA, NANCY VERNON in her official and individual capacities, RONALD HAGGERTY, JR., THOMAS CESARIO, THOMAS PATTON, BEVERLY ASHTON in their individual capacities, CITY OF CONNELLSVILLE, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Pennsylvania

CRYSTAL DAWN WEIMER, Plaintiff,
v.
COUNTY OF FAYETTE, PENNSYLVANIA, NANCY VERNON in her official and individual capacities, RONALD HAGGERTY, JR., THOMAS CESARIO, THOMAS PATTON, BEVERLY ASHTON in their individual capacities, CITY OF CONNELLSVILLE, Defendants.

Civil Action No. 17-1265

Re: ECF Nos. 183, 186, 188, 193, 209, 223

United States District Court, W.D. Pennsylvania

July 19, 2022

OPINION

MAUREEN P. KELLY, UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE.

Plaintiff Crystal Dawn Weimer (“Weimer”) initiated this civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the County of Fayette, Pennsylvania; its former District Attorney, Nancy Vernon; the City of Connellsville; and members of the city and state police departments (collectively, “Defendants”). Weimer claims that Defendants violated her rights under the United States Constitution and Pennsylvania law by wrongfully prosecuting her for third-degree murder. Defendants' alleged misconduct resulted in her imprisonment for over eleven years, and ended only after her convictions were vacated and all charges against her were dismissed with prejudice.

Presently before the Court are Motions for Summary Judgment filed on behalf of each Defendant. ECF Nos. 183, 186, 188, and 193. Also pending are two motions by Defendants to have facts deemed admitted for purposes of resolving the motions for summary judgment, and a motion to strike Weimer's statement of additional facts. ECF Nos. 209, 223. For the reasons that

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follow, the Motion for Summary Judgment filed on behalf of Thomas Cesario (“Cesario”), ECF No. 183, is granted as to Weimer's claims for failure to intervene, but denied as to her claims for malicious prosecution, conspiracy, and supervisory liability; the Motion for Summary Judgment filed on behalf of City of Connellsville (“Connellsville”), Ronald Haggerty, Jr., (“Haggerty”), and Thomas Patton (“Patton”), ECF No. 186, is granted as to Connellsville and Patton, and as to Weimer's claims against Haggerty for failure to intervene and supervisory liability, but denied as to her claims against Haggerty for malicious prosecution and conspiracy; the Motion for Summary Judgment filed on behalf of Fayette County and Nancy Vernon (“Vernon”), ECF No. 188, is granted; and the Motion for Summary Judgment filed on behalf of Beverly Ashton (“Ashton”), ECF No. 193, is granted as to Weimer's claims for failure to intervene and supervisory liability, but denied as to her claims for malicious prosecution and conspiracy. Defendants' joint motions to have facts deemed admitted and to strike, ECF Nos. 209 and 223, are denied.^[1]

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The parties have submitted a brief Joint Statement of Facts, supplemented by Defendants' Joint Statement of Facts and exhibits thereto.^[2] ECF Nos. 180, 181, 182. In accordance with Local Civil Rule 56(C)(1), Weimer filed a response to Defendants' Joint Statement of Facts that sets forth her agreement, disagreement, or objections to Defendants' factual statements, as well as supporting exhibits. ECF No. 203. Dissatisfied with Weimer's response, Defendants moved to have certain facts deemed admitted, ECF No. 209, and Weimer followed with a response to the motion setting forth additional facts and supplementing her objections. ECF No. 222. Defendants

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followed with a Joint Response to Plaintiff's Statement of Additional Facts. ECF No. 225. The Court construes disputed facts in the light most favorable to Weimer as the nonmoving party, and summarizes the record as follows. In setting forth the facts, the Court incorporates the allegations of the Second Amended Complaint as summarized by the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Weimer v. Cnty. of Fayette, Pennsylvania, 972 F.3d 177 (3d Cir. 2020), and as developed in the summary judgment record.

A. The Initial Investigation into Curtis Haith's Murder

Curtis Haith was murdered in the early morning hours of January 27, 2001. ECF No. 222 ¶ 396. Police from the Connellsville Police Department arrived and found Haith dead on the sidewalk outside his apartment, brutally beaten and with a gunshot wound to the face. Id.

Detective Lieutenant Cesario was assigned as lead investigator of Haith's murder. Cesario responded to the report of a homicide, spoke with Haith's neighbors, and recovered evidence from the crime scene and Haith's apartment. ECF No. 180 ¶¶ 3, 5-7; ECF No. 222 ¶ 397. The evidence included blood and hair samples from Haith, blood from the rear porch and the sidewalk, and a blue handkerchief and sweatshirt. ECF No. 180 at 5, 7; ECF No. 222 ¶ 397. Police searched Haith's apartment and collected marijuana, drug paraphernalia, a gun, pager, and a notebook that contained “possible owe sheets.” ECF No. 222 ¶ 398; ECF No. 182-2 at 6. According to Cesario, “owe sheets” comprise a “ledger that's sometimes kept by people that are involved in drug sales to people that they have sold drugs to and - kind of like on credit.” ECF No. 182-1 at 14.

Cesario asked Haggerty, a Connellsville police officer, to assist with witness interviews. ECF No. 222 ¶ 28. Over the next hours and days, police interviewed Haith's neighbors and friends and learned that Haith had attended parties and had hosted a dozen or more people in his apartment

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the prior evening. ECF No. 222 ¶ 399; ECF No. 182-2 at 5. Police interviewed individuals identified as being with Haith at those gatherings, including Weimer. ECF No. 222 ¶¶ 400-01.

Haggerty spoke with Weimer at her sister's residence the day of the murder. Weimer was sleeping when police officers arrived, and she was dressed in the same clothes that she had on the night before. ECF No. 74 ¶ 28. “The officers observed what appeared to be mud and blood on Ms. Weimer's clothes, as well as some injuries to her face and foot.... Ms. Weimer voluntarily accompanied the officers to the police station and [.] provided her clothing for forensic testing.” Id.; see also ECF No. 222 ¶¶ 42-44 (Weimer's responses). Weimer told the officers that Haith had attended a party at her sister's house for about an hour, and that she and another partygoer drove Haith to Connellsville and dropped him off in front of the Arch Cafe. ECF No. 222 ¶ 406.

Weimer explained that her injuries resulted from “fooling around” with her boyfriend, Michael Gibson, and another man, Jason Mills, who fell on her. ECF No. 182-2 at 19-20; ECF No. 222 ¶¶ 42 - 43, 49 (Weimer's responses). Defendants contend that Weimer's explanations as to the cause of her injuries varied, and included being beaten in a “house fight.” Weimer vehemently denies providing an inconsistent statement, and maintains that she repeatedly explained that she was injured in a physical interaction with her boyfriend. ECF No. 222 ¶¶ 49-51. Based on the presence of blood and mud on her clothing, Haggerty collected mud samples from the crime scene. Id. ¶ 45. Gibson and Mills later confirmed Weimer's version of her injuries as the result of a fight with him, despite initial discrepancies. ECF No. 182-2 at 28.

During the first months of the investigation, witnesses shared with Cesario and Haggerty rumors of a fight between Haith and Shawn Breakiron months before Haith's murder. ECF No. 182-1 at 29, 31; ECF No. 182-2 at 15. The incident ended with Haith shooting a gun into the air. Id. Three witnesses separately reported a rumor of Breakiron's involvement in the murder to

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Cesario. ECF No. 182-2 at 18, 27, 29. One of the witnesses shared that he heard that Breakiron and his brother beat Haith with a tire iron and then shot him to prevent Haith from identifying his assailants. Id. at 27. The witness reported that Breakiron drives a white car. Id.

Haith's neighbor related that on night of the murder, she heard popping noises and saw a white older-model car drive up and down the street. Id. Another neighbor reported seeing a male wearing a blue sweatshirt urinate on the road in front of her house and enter Haith's apartment at 3:45 a.m. Id. at 22. She believed Haith was involved in drug trafficking. Id.

Cesario interviewed Breakiron about two months after Haith's murder. Id. at 31. Breakiron confirmed that he had a physical altercation with Haith six months earlier, and that Haith may have been the person who fired three or four gunshots. Breakiron stated he did not have any further dealings with Haith since their altercation, and that he was with his girlfriend on the night of the murder. Breakiron reported a rumor that Haith had been involved in a $2500 “drug rip-off” the day before the murder. Id.

In late March 2001, Cesario learned that early non-specific blood sample testing of the blood taken from Weimer's coat was consistent with Haith. Id. On March 26, 2001, Cesario obtained a search warrant to obtain samples of Weimer's blood. Id. When he served the search warrant, Weimer denied any involvement in Haith's murder and repeated her earlier statement that she was not present at Haith's apartment that evening. Id. at 32. She stated that the blood on her coat came from Gibson, whom she had bitten in an altercation. Id. DNA testing later confirmed that the blood on Weimer's clothes belonged to Gibson, and none of the DNA samples collected from the crime scene matched Weimer. ECF No. 222 ¶ 94; ECF No. 225 ¶ 556; ECF No. 182-2 at 37-38. Cesario did not seek a blood sample from Breakiron, or any other potential suspect, despite rumors connecting them to the murder, and nondescript alibis. ECF No. 182-1 at 30-36.

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Other witness interviews occurred over the next six months, and police continued to receive information that men not previously identified were involved in Haith's murder. Weimer was not named as a participant in any of these interviews. ECF No. 182-2 at 32-34.

Cesario retired from the Connellsville Police Department effective September 15, 2002. ECF No. 222 ¶ 391. As of the date of his retirement, “Cesario didn't feel they ‘were even close to...