COURT UPHOLDS RULING IN 'NARC' CASE

OCEAN CITY- The Maryland Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling
Tuesday that a resort police officer had no probable cause to arrest an
Ocean City man in 1991.

Ocean City officials claim Wayne Nelson Davis hindered officer Bernadette
DiPino in her capacity as an undercover narcotic investigator.

Davis alleges DiPino acted maliciously when she sought hindering charges
against him after he allegedly identified her in public as a "narc."

DiPino and another officer were leaving a downtown Ocean City bar when Davis
allegedly made the comment to a friend, according to police records.

Though prosecutors eventually dropped the charges, Davis spent two nights in
jail before selling his car to post a $50,000 bond. He is seeking
compensation and punitive damages because of false arrest, false
imprisonment, malicious prosecution and abuse of process charges.

The high court ruling Wednesday means the civil lawsuit will return to the
Worcester Circuit Court and must incorporate the lower court decision.

The decision likely will help Davis' case.

According to Peter Wimbrow, Davis' attorney, the case will center on whether
or not DiPino had probable cause and whether or not Davis' comments
constituted protected speech.

The case reached the high court after the Worcester Circuit Court refused to
consider Davis' charges, stating DiPino had probable cause.

The ruling was overturned last year when the Court of Special Appeals ruled
the circuit court erred, stating the officer had to be performing her duties
at the time.

The high court agreed, stating "that was no evidence that DiPino ... was
engaged in any police activity when Davis made his remark.

The court also agreed with the lower court opinion that Davis' comments were
protected speech.

Referring to a U.S. Supreme Court decision, the court stated, "there is
utterly no evidence in this record that Davis made his remark ... with the
intent to incite or produce imminent lawless action. Nor, under the
circumstances, were his words likely to incite or produce any such action
against DiPino ..."

Citing the complexity of the court's 40-page decision, neither Wimbrow nor
Town Attorney Guy Ayres would comment on what impact Wednesday's decision
would have on the case.