Baltimore prosecutors have dropped dozens of criminal cases after a defense attorney discovered that the officer who helped arrest his client had once been suspended for trying to handle a domestic violence call in which he was the suspect.
Detective Charles Hagee pleaded guilty in August 2006 to two administrative charges of conduct unbecoming a police officer. In October 2004, court documents allege, he responded to a woman's 911 call, even though he knew he was the subject of her complaint, and then attempted to misdirect other officers into chasing a fake suspect.
"Misconduct in office" encompasses a wide range of infractions. But the chief of the state's attorney's police misconduct division knew the allegations involved lying and deceit, yet did not pursue the matter after police told him "integrity charges" against Hagee had been dismissed, according to court records and a spokeswoman for prosecutors.
In a 2006 court deposition in this case, Thomas A. Krehely, the division chief, testified that he does not routinely review police misconduct files after he decides not to press criminal charges, mainly to avoid being subpoenaed by defense attorneys.
As a result, Krehely did not learn that Hagee's plea involved an admission that he misled 911 operators until more than a year after the paperwork was signed. Defense attorneys could have used that information to undermine the detective's credibility.
State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy now says Hagee cannot be relied upon to tell the truth on the witness stand and on May 5 - nearly four years after the incident - she put him on a list of witnesses prosecutors may not use at trial, said Margaret T. Burns, a spokeswoman for Jessamy.
Burns said Krehely did not become aware of the substance of what Hagee pleaded guilty to until Circuit Judge M. Brooke Murdock ordered some of the contents of Hagee's personnel file disclosed to city public defender Gregory Fischer in September.
Assistant Public Defender Maureen Rowland accused prosecutors of purposely remaining in the dark about the outcome of police internal investigations.
"The state's attorney's office exhibited willful ignorance - because they didn't want to know," Rowland said in an interview. "They had an ethical responsibility as lawyers to find out what the situation really was, and then disclose that information to defense lawyers."
Fischer subpoenaed Hagee's personnel file in the case of Derrick Burgess, who was being prosecuted for gun offenses.
