The Washington Post
April 28, 1984, Saturday, Final Edition
Questions Remain in Wake Of Easter Arrests in Fairfax
BYLINE: By Charles Fishman, Washington Post Staff Writer
SECTION: Metro; B1
LENGTH: 758 words
Fairfax County court officials maintained yesterday that the
only error they made in arresting a Falls Church area man on Easter Sunday was
apologizing for the arrest four days later. But an investigation by court
officials into another Easter arrest, that of a Falls Church woman, failed to
clear up the question of who was responsible for her being taken into custody
three days after a judge quashed the arrest warrant.And Fairfax County police,
who suspended serving certain arrest warrants as a result of the two incidents,
conducted their own investigation and announced that they will resume serving
warrants on Monday.About all that could be agreed on yesterday after two courts
and the Fairfax County police had looked into the disputed arrests was that the
culprit originally blamed by everyone--the Fairfax Courthouse computer--was
innocent.
Mary Ryder and Claude Lineberry were arrested on bench
warrants and jailed in the controversial Easter incidents after they failed to
appear in court on an assigned date. Such warrants are issued routinely by
judges.Lineberry, 43, president of a small Tysons Corner consulting firm, was
arrested Sunday on a warrant that was issued after he failed to appear in
Fairfax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court on April 12 for a hearing
in his divorce/child support proceedings.He was jailed briefly and released on
bond. On Thursday, Chief Judge Thomas A. Fortkort apologized to Lineberry in
court for the arrest, which he said had been the result of clerical or computer
error.Lineberry and his attorney, Robert Vaughn, said they were under the
impression they were supposed to appear on April 26.Yesterday, however,
juvenile court services director Vincent Picciano said his investigation
indicated that "everything went according to plan"--that Lineberry
had been scheduled to appear in court on April 12, did not show up, and was
arrested as he should have been.Fortkort, the judge who apologized, declined to
comment on the matter. However, Picciano said Fortkort "indicated he did
apologize, but that that was based on information he received from Mr.
Vaughn"--information Picciano and Fortkort now say is contradicted by the
court record.Vaughn said yesterday, "They're wrong." He said that at
a hearing before Fortkort in January, he, the judge and a second attorney agreed
on the April 26 date. Sometime in February, Vaughn said, he received notice
that the hearing was scheduled for April 12 "and called the court ,
explained the situation, and they agreed that apparently it was an incorrect
date."But when Lineberry failed to appear on April 12, officials tried
unsuccessfully to call him, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.Picciano
said yesterday that all written and computer records indicate the court date
was April 12.Albert Kassabian, the other attorney who was at the January
hearing where the date was set, is no longer involved in the litigation, and
said yesterday he would not say what date his calendar showed for the scheduled
hearing."I don't think it would be proper for me to get involved in this,"
Kassabian said.Court officials agree that Mary Ryder, who was arrested by Falls
Church police in front of her three young children on Easter, should not have
been arrested. But, while officials from Falls Church and Fairfax County have
apologized profusely for the mistake, they cannot say precisely why it
happened.An arrest warrant was issued, but it was revoked three days before the
Easter arrest by a Fairfax County General District Court judge. Somehow, court
officials said, word of the revocation never was transmitted to Falls Church
police.Catherine Ratiner, clerk of the General District Court, said that at
some point "the system broke down," but she said the court was not
exclusively to blame.The motion to revoke the arrest warrant was unscheduled, "and
so it didn't follow normal channels," she said. She added that an
unusually high number of motions and an unprecedented day-long computer
breakdown created enormous clerical problems late last week.Ratiner said she
has reviewed all the court's procedures since the incident "and I haven't
come up with anything better than what we do now, anything that could guarantee
100 percent accuracy."Fairfax police said yesterday they have looked into
the incidents "and we're satisifed that the system . . . is fine,"
according to Col. Alan L. Barbee.Barbee said police serve about three such
warrants a day, and will resume serving them Monday.