Lawsuit against the State of Maryland

Plaintiff:      

James Armstead

Vs.

Defendant(s):

Anne Arundel County Police Department

Internal Affairs Section

8495 Veterans Highway

Millersville, MD 21108 

STATE OF MARYLAND

OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR

STATE HOUSE

100 STATE CIRCLE

ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND 21401-1925

Officer Hardesty

Western District Police Department

8273 Telegraph Road

Odenton, MD 21113

Matta Karimu

8309 Timberlake Court

Hanover, MD 21144

Frank R. Weathersbee

Office of The States Attorney

7 Church Circle, 2^nd Floor

Annapolis, MD 21401

Douglas F. Gansler

Office of The Attorney General

200 St. Paul Place

Baltimore, MD 21202

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IN THE

CIRCUIT COURT

FOR

Anne Arundel County

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COMPLAINT

Plaintiff James Armstead, sues the Defendants  State of Maryland, Internal Affairs Unit, Matta Karimu, Office Hardesty, Office of the States Attorney, and the Office of the Attorney General and says:

PARTIES.

1. Plaintiff James Armstead is a citizen and resident of the State of Maryland.

2. Defendant State of Maryland, Internal Affairs Unit, Matta Karimu, Office Hardesty, Office of the States Attorney, and the Office of the Attorney General are  citizens and residents of the State of Maryland.

COUNT I: (Defamation of Character)

Case 2A227530 (December 21-27, 2010)

3. On August 9, 2010, Matta Karimu filed a protective order against me, James Armstead, (district case number 0702SP03030452010). On August 17, 2010, Officer Hardesty, of the Western District Anne Arundel County Police Department,  issued a summons for Assault and Burglary (district case number 4A00230332/ Circuit case number 2K11000290/ tracking number 10100601609133). I tried to go visit my son at his new home in Pioneer City in Severn, Maryland. Matta has filed false claims of assault against me when my wife and I only went to her home to pick up my son. She tried to slam the door in my wife’s face, almost hiting my wife’s 4-month pregnant stomach, and I caught the door. She screamed, telling her son to call the police because she said that I had hit her in the head with the door!

4. On September 13, 2011, I, James Armstead, appealed the Protective Order (district case number 0702SP03030452010) to circuit court (circuit court case 02-C-10-155649). The case was denied in court on October 12, 2010 before Judge Paul Harris.

5. On December 21, 2010, Matta Karimu called the police and told them that I came by her house and threatened her. Officer Hardesty applied for a warrant for my arrest for "violation of protective order" (District Court case 2A227530) . Since he was the police that placed the assault and burglary chares on me, he should have known that the protective order was denied. Matta Karimu showed him the old protective order from September 13 and Officer Hardesty issued the warrant based on that. He claims that he called the sheriff’s department and they told him that the protective order was still active which is a lie. That same day that Matta Karimu called the police on me, my wife called her. When my wife called her phone, Officer Hardesty answered the phone. He stated that the paperwork that she showed him said that the protective order was active. When my wife called the sheriff’s department, the dispatcher told her that the protective order contained two pages on his computer screen; that at the bottom of the first page, the case number was showing appealed and the next page showed that the protective order was denied in Circuit Court. I don't care who the police department wants to blame, these charges were placed on me and there was a warrant placed out on me due to someone else's mistake and someone else’s false statements to the police department.

6. On December 23, my wife and I went over to Matta Karimu's house to try and see my son. She wouldn't come to the door and stated she was calling the police. So I called the police, too. Officers J.C. Tepper (badge #1810) and M.T Allinger (badge 1672) showed up to Matta Karimu's address. She showed them the same paperwork that she showed to Officer Hardesty. Like a police officer is supposed to do, Officer Allinger called the sheriff’s office and found out that there was no active protective order showing in the system but that there was in fact a warrant out for me for my arrest for violation of a protective order. He told me that Officer Hardesty did in face issue out the warrant for violation of protective order.

7. The protective order case (District Case number 0702SP03030452010/Circuit Court case 02-C-10-155649) was thrown out in circuit court on October 12^th because the judge (JUDGE HARRIS) realized she was lying and changing her story too many times. Yet and still, Matta Karimu used the temporary protective order to have a warrant placed out against me in December 21, 2010. How could a warrant for “Violation of protective order” be placed on me when there WAS NO ACTIVE protective order in the system?! How could a commissioner (COMMISSIONER SNOW) even sign that warrant when he could see for himself that the case had been appealed and dismissed by Judge Harris in circuit court?

8. I even contacted the office of Internal Affairs. All they did was give me the run around. Detective McFarlin contacted me and I couldn’t even get a word in edgewise. I tried to explain my situation and how Matta Karimu lied to the police officer, showing him old, denied, false information to have a warrant issued out on me. He told me Detective Peterson would contact me. At the time, I didn’t have a steady phone number because my family and I were (and still are) suffering financially. He used that as an excuse not to get in contact with me. He claimed he spoke with Matta Karimu and he believed her when he asked her about showing Officer Hardesty the protective order that she believed to be still current. Detective Peterson was very rude and sarcastic with me, not even caring about my situation or the fact that this woman is ruining my reputation, my character, and my life. He seemed as though he was just concerned with taking up for her and for Officer Hardesty. So, I spoke with Captain Flemming who showed the same disregard to my life. Till this day, I have to contact them about the case. They have yet to call me back about the case. Last I heard, they were waiting to hear back from the state’s attorney about how to place false statement charges on Matta Karimu. They keep giving me the run around. If you can’t go to the Internal Affairs Department for help, who can you go to?

9. The Internal Affairs Unit/ Western District Police Department kept making excuses for Officer Hardesty, telling me that Officer Hardesty says that it's the sheriff department's fault for leaving the protective order showing up active in the system. Then some dispatchers at the sheriff’s office tell me that the protective order is showing denied and others said that it was showing up as active, and that it's the district court who is at fault. And then the district court is telling me that in order to file a false statement charge against Matta Karimu, I have to get the commissioner to approve it. When I went to the commissioner, he told me that I have to go the state's attorney. When I went to the state's attorney, the supervisor told me that I had to go to the police station to get the officer to file charges. I keep getting the run around. Matta Karimu claims that she doesn't remember going to court and the judge denying her petition for a protective order. And the internal affairs went off of what she said; they actually believed her when she said that she didn't remember, as if they couldn't investigate any further and get the tape recording of what happened in court that day.

Count 2: Loss of Wages

10.  There's no way that a person should be able to keep putting false charges on someone. I have over 12 charges showing up on Maryland's case search. All of the charges have been nolle prosequi, dismissed, or denied altogether. She has defamed my name, spreading rumor about me on my old job. Case number 02K11000290 was thrown out in court June 15th because Matta Karimu’s credibility is questionable. When asked why she used an old protective that had been appealed and dismissed in court (due to Judge Robert Harris believing that she was a liar who couldn’t keep her story straight), she claimed she forgot. How could someone “forget” they went to court and their case was denied? How could she even have the audacity to use a dismissed protective order and gave it to Officer Hardesty to have issued a warrant (case 2A00227530) issued out against me! If I would have never went to the District Court on Rowe Blvd on December 27^th, I would have been falsely arrested.

11. I should have been allowed to press criminal charges against Matta Karimua for using false information to have a warrant issued against me. No commissioner should have signed that warrant. After looking in the system and seeing that the protective order had been appealed, he should have seen that the result of the appealed case was that it was denied in court. How could someone make that kind of mistake? That mistake is on my record and I should not have to be the one to pay to have it removed when it should not have been placed on my record in the first place. The State of Maryland is letting people ruin my life and reputation. The state is letting the Anne Arundel County Housing Commission bar me out of all Anne Arundel County Housing properties based on false accusations. The state is allowing a woman to place over 10 false charges on my record. It should be against the law for the system to repeatedly let someone place charges on a person and either drop them in court, not show up to court, lie under oath, lie to police officers, and show false documents to the police department. There are too many mistakes that have been allowed on my record. There are too many false statements that have been allowed as evidence to have me barred out of communities and jobs. I can’t even get a job because even though all of those cases have either been dismissed, denied, or nolle prosique, they still remain on my record for all potential employers to see.

12. As a proximate result of the Defendants’ negligence, I, James Armstead, have sustained pain and suffering and lost wages.

13. Defamation is false and unprivileged spoken words or written publication, which exposes any living person to hatred, contempt, ridicule, or which causes him/her to be shunned or avoided, or which has a tendency to injure him/her in his/her trade or occupation. Defamation is a crime that falls into two categories: slander(speech that is untrue and derogatory and negatively affecting someone's reputation) or libel, which comes from written comments that are untrue and derogatory. Defamation includes statements that:

·    question your ethics and damage you reputation at school or at work, or your ability to find work.

·    claims that you have a criminal history

·    claims that you are sexually immoral (for example, accusing a man of being a child molester

14. A statement is defamatory if it tends to injure a person’s reputation in the community and exposes that person to hatred, ridicule, or contempt. The test is whether, under the circumstances, the statement discredits the plaintiff in the minds of any considerable, respectable class of the community. It is an injury to the reputation of someone resulting from false statements of actions of another. It is a false attack on your good name, which is a proprietary interest and not a personal interest. It is an attack on your character and reputation either through libel or slander.

15. A person may recover lost wages and benefits if the defamation caused him or her to lose employment.  (Case example, Tosti v. Ayik, 400 Mass. 224, 228 (1987)).  Lost wages are recoverable if there is evidence that the defamatory statements caused prospective employers to reject plaintiff’s applications for employment. (Case example: Tosti v. Ayik, 394 Mass. 482, 476 N.E.2d 928, 939 (1985)) Each repetition of a defamatory remark is a new injury. This means that you can obtain damages for each time the defamatory statement is repeated.

16. In any case, the claims must be false for you to have a case. Considering the definitions above, I am certain that I have the proof to file a case against the State of Maryland, Anne Arundel County Police Department (Internal Affairs Unit), Matta Karimu, Officer Hardesty (Western District Police Department, Office of the States Attorney, and the Office of the Attorney General for lost wages due to defamation of character.

WHEREFORE, I, James Armstead, demand judgment against the State of Maryland, Anne Arundel County Police Department/ Internal Affairs Unit, Matta Karimu, and Officer Hardesty for one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000.00), plus interest and the costs of this action.

Sign_________________________                       Date:________________

This is the story of a male wronged by the Maryland Court System

My name is James Armstead. I am a black man in America who gets targeted, taken advantage of, profiled, and maliciously prosecuted year after year after year. My problems have got to stop somewhere.

I am trying to find a lawyer to help  pending Child Support/ Child Custody case and a lawyer who can help win my defemation of character/ malicious prosecution lawsuit.

My wife and I lived in Goldsboro , North Carolina from May 2006 until August of 2008. During that time, Matta Karimu put in a complaint for custody and child support in Baltimore City . Neither myself, Matta, nor the child ever resided in Baltimore City . The complaint was sent to me while we stayed in North Carolina . I filed an answer, stating that if the little boy was mine, I was requesting a DNA to prove paternity. And that was the last we heard about the case. No one ever responded, sending me a letter from court telling me the court date or a response to me asking for a DNA test. We moved to Greenville , North Carolina , and sent in a change of address form to Baltimore City . Still didn't hear anything back. When we called while living in Greenville , the clerk who answered the phone said that the case had been closed out. We thought that was the end of the case.

We moved back last year, August 2010. I was pulled over in November 2010, and arrested for driving on a suspended license. While I was in jail for 2 weeks, my wife went to the MVA to get my record, it stated that my license was suspended due to non-compliance of a child support order! The record stated that they mailed out a letter to me but it was mailed back to them because the address was incorrect.

We went to Baltimore to reopen the case. We found out I had an order for child support where Matta Karimu was supposed to let me have the little boy for the summer and keep in contact twice a week. She has not gone by the order. DNA was never established. And Matta opened the case out of jurisdiction. We moved here from North Carolina , and where we come from, a woman cannot just go to the court house and put a man on child support without first establishing paternity. In my original answer, I explained the circumstances, and told the court that I only believed the boy was mine based on the fact that Matta told me that the little boy was his. And that if the boy was in fact my son, that I was entitled to the same rights as Matta Karimu. In our second letter to the court, I requested a DNA test. The court never responded to my motion. If we would have known then that a person "must file for complaint of custody and child support in the county/state where the parent and child reside" (according to Maryland Law), then we would have filed that before filing the complaint.

  

Since we found out about the case, we have filed numerous motions to include:

- motion to dismiss due to lack of jurisdiction

- petition for DNA test

- motion for contempt/ show case order (not following order of letting James see the child she claims is his son)

- motion for waiver of paternity tests costs

- motion to release suspension of license

- motion to stay the case pending investigation

- motion to audit for child support

- Exception to Master's ruling (when he went to master's hearing, the Master ordered him to pay $400 for paternity testing)

It took the Baltimore City court nearly 4 months to look over any of my my paperwork. I filed an exception to the Master's ruling, yet the court still granted her order. We are living on one income right now, my wife's income. We have 3 children together and can barely afford to pay rent, food, or any other bills right now. We cannot afford to pay $400 for a paternity case! There has to be something that can be done to help. The case should have been thrown out in court based on the fact that Matta opened the case in a county where she never lived or worked.

Yesterday, we found out that the "motion to dismiss due to lack of jurisdiction" was denied in court because Judge Howard stated that though my allegations my be true, I did not file for a motion to dismiss in a timely manner or before my original answer was filed! I am disabled. I am dyslexic. My wife is the one who handles all of my paperwork; in fact, she is the one posting this story for me. The courts are taking advantage of my disability. When I go in the clerk's office, even the supervisor's get smart with me, saying, "If you don't understand or know what any of this means, have your wife fill it out. Mrs. Armstead, please let him know that he needs to sign this (mind you, I'm standing right beside her when they say this)."

On top of that case, we have another civil case that we are trying to file against the state of Maryland . We moved back to Maryland last August 2010. Since then, the same woman, Matta Karimu, has placed more false allegations against me. I tried to go visit the little boy at his home in Pioneer City in Severn , Maryland . Whenever I try to visit, Matta will call the police. I even go with my wife and she calls the police. In August of 2010, Matta filed false claims of assault against me when I went to her home to pick her son. She tried to slam the door in my wife's face, and I caught the door. She screamed, telling her oldest son to call the police because she said that I had hit her in the head with the door! She tried to put a protective order on me, but it was thrown out in circuit court because the judge (JUDGE HARRIS) realized she was lying and changing her story too many times. Yet and still, Matta used the temporary protective order to have a warrant placed out against me in December 21, 2010, 3 months later. How could a warrant for “Violation of protective order” be placed on me when there WAS NO ACTIVE protective order in the system?! How could a commissioner (COMMISSIONER SNOW) even sign that warrant when he could see for himself that the case had been appealed and dismissed by Judge Harris in circuit court?

The system makes too many mistakes on its citizen’s records. Those mistakes cost people their freedom, their family, their jobs, their lives! I can’t even get a job because there are over 17 charges on his record from Matta Karimu. Even though the charges have been dismissed, Nolle Prosequi, or dropped, they still show up on his background report, making me look like a repeat offender that just got away with it. My wife struggles to pay bills on her own everyday because I can’t get a job because of my record.

I opened a whole new child custody/ child support case in Annapolis (case 02C11163021). And I have/ reopened a lawsuit against the state of Maryland which the judge closed a few days ago because the state of Maryland filed a motion to dismiss! Please, someone out there has to know how to help me...