In a unanimous decision, Maryland’s highest court Wednesday overturned a Baltimore City Circuit Court judge’s ruling that shielded police officers who lie in search warrants from being sued.

Maryland Court of Appeals Judge Alan Wilner wrote that police officers have a “qualified privilege” to defame as part of their daily duties but lose that privilege “if the officer knows that the statements are false or makes them with reckless disregard of whether they are true or false.”

At issue is a search warrant that allegedly defamed Baltimore Police Sgt. Robert Smith and Officer Vicki Lynn Mengel, who were members of the seven-officer “Flex Squad” in the Southwest District.

The Flex Squad, now defunct, came under scrutiny when a woman claimed she had been raped by Officer Jemini Jones in the Flex Squad office. Jones was later cleared of those charges.

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On Dec. 29, 2005, police searched the office and found drugs in a duffel bag under one officer’s desk, in a second officer’s desk drawer and in a third officer’s jacket pocket. On the wall of the office, a vial with white residue also was discovered. But no contraband was discovered from Smith or Mengel, who were not in the office that day, nor from their desks, lockers or other property.

Baltimore police then sought a second search warrant for the Flex Squad and alleged Smith was violating drug laws and Mengel was planting drugs on citizens to make false arrests, but did not include evidence or specifics to support those claims.

As a result of the “public ridicule, scorn, dishonor and embarrassment” Smith and Mengel suffered from the claims, the officers filed a $1.5 million defamation lawsuit against the city. Judge M. Brooke Murdock dismissed the suit last summer, agreeing with the Baltimore Police Department’s arguments that applications for search warrants are immune to libel.

Clarke Ahlers, the attorney for Smith and Mengel, celebrated the high court’s ruling, shooting down Murdock’s ruling.

“This City Solicitor’s Office is out of touch with reality,” Ahlers said. “This opens up the doors for anyone the police lie about to sue the police.”

The Baltimore Police Department’s Chief of Legal Affairs Karen Hornig said the officers who wrote the search warrant were just doing their jobs.

“We’re very confident that the two officers in this case acted honestly and professionally,” Hornig said. “They did not act with malice against the two plaintiffs. The only thing this ruling does is make the case longer.”

Baltimore Police Sgt. Louis Hopson, who attended the Court of Appeals arguments in support of Smith, also celebrated the decision.

“The Baltimore Police Department leadership as well as City Hall must rise above petty politics and do right by Sgt. Smith as well as the other displaced officers who have been the victims of a dysfunctional system,” Hopson said.

lbroadwater@baltimoreexaminer.com