Preview:

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND : : : : : : ...o0o... MEMORANDUM Now pending in this civil rights case is the defendants' motion for summary judgment. The issues were fully briefed and a hearing was held on December 20, 2005. For the reasons stated below, the defendants' motion will be granted.

WALTER HOVATTER v. LOGAN WIDDOWSON, et al.

Civil No. CCB-03-2904

I. Background On March 13, 1990, Charles Payne, Jr. ("Payne") was shot and killed at his home in Princess Anne, Maryland. His wife, Deborah Payne ("Debbie"), subsequently told the police that she had discussed with her cousin, Kirk Jenkins ("Jenkins"), on numerous occasions, the idea of paying a third party to kill her husband. She also told police that in April 1990 Jenkins told her that he had in fact paid someone to kill her husband. Around 1993, the investigation into Payne's murder began to focus on the plaintiff, Walter Hovatter ("Hovatter"), as the third party who had been paid to murder Payne. Hovatter claims that suspicion turned on him only after the murder investigation was assigned to defendant Corporal George Jacobs ("Jacobs"), a Maryland State Police officer. According to Hovatter, Jacobs conducted an intentionally misleading investigation, under the direction of State's Attorney for

1

Somerset County Logan Widdowson ("Widdowson"), by falsifying witness statements, making intentional misstatements of fact, and ignoring evidence that exculpated Hovatter and implicated other suspects. Hovatter alleges that Jacobs made numerous intentionally false, misleading, and inaccurate representations in the statement of probable cause that led to Hovatter being charged with the Payne murder. On April 29, 1994, Widdowson charged Hovatter by a criminal information filed in Somerset County, Maryland with first degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and the use of a handgun in the commission of a crime. An arrest warrant was issued, and Hovatter was arrested by Jacobs on May 2, 1994. At Hovatter's initial appearance later that day and at a bail review hearing the following day, he was determined to be ineligible for pretrial release and was ordered held without bail.1 Hovatter's initial trial on the Payne murder charges in September 1994 resulted in a hung jury. In his first retrial, in January 1995, he was convicted by a jury for first degree murder, but the Maryland Court of Special Appeals reversed the conviction in April 1996. The state subsequently retried Hovatter in January 1998, June-July 1999, May 2000, and October 2000, and he was finally acquitted of all charges on October 26, 2000. Hovatter remained in pretrial detention from the time of his arrest until May 2000, when Judge Frederick J. Price reduced his bond to $5,000. Hovatter filed this lawsuit in October 2003 against the present defendants, as well as several others, under federal and state law. After the defendants filed a motion to dismiss, the court issued

1

Hovatter then waived his right under Md. Code Ann., Crim. Proc.

Download Walter Hovatter v. Logan Widdowson, et al..pdf

Maryland Law