Wrongfully imprisoned Maryland man who spent 32 years behind bars sues former authorities

[ad_1] ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — A Maryland man who was wrongly imprisoned for 32 years, together with a decade on dying row, for 2 killings he didn't commit is suing former legislation enforcement officers in a lawsuit introduced Thursday, although 4 of the 5 folks named as defendants are deceased.

John Huffington was pardoned by then-Gov. Larry Hogan in January 2023. Hogan cited prosecutorial misconduct in granting a full innocence pardon to Huffington in reference to a 1981 double slaying in Harford County. A Maryland board permitted $2.9 million in compensation for Huffington later that yr throughout Gov. Wes Moore's administration.

Huffington stated in an announcement Thursday that “it took many, many painful years, however the fact ultimately got here out.” Simply 18 on the time of his arrest, he stated neither of his mother and father ever bought to see and perceive that his identify had been cleared and he was let out.

"All of these years I spent behind bars broken and strained my relationships, price me the flexibility to have a household of my very own, price me the flexibility to be with my mom when she died, price me treasured time with my father who was in his nineties and affected by Alzheimer’s once I lastly was launched,” he added.

Huffington, 62, at all times maintained his innocence. He was launched from Patuxent Establishment in 2013 after serving 32 years of two life sentences.

He was convicted twice within the killings often called the “Memorial Day Murders.” Diane Becker was stabbed to dying in her leisure car, whereas her 4-year-old son, who was inside, was not harmed. Joseph Hudson, Becker’s boyfriend, was fatally shot and located a number of miles (kilometers) away. A second suspect within the slayings testified towards Huffington, was convicted of first-degree homicide, and served 27 years.

Prosecutors relied on testimony that was later discredited about hair discovered on the crime scene purportedly matching Huffington’s.

He appealed his first conviction in 1981. In 1983, a jury discovered him responsible of first-degree homicide and he was sentenced to dying. Prosecutors later commuted that sentence to 2 life phrases.

Questions on proof within the case arose when The Washington Publish uncovered an FBI report in 2011 that discovered the FBI agent who analyzed hair proof in Huffington’s case might not have used dependable science, and even examined the hair in any respect. The report had been written in 1999, however Harford County State’s Lawyer Joseph Cassilly did not present it to Huffington’s legal professionals.

A Frederick County decide vacated Huffington’s convictions and ordered a brand new trial in 2013 after Huffington offered new proof utilizing DNA testing that was not out there throughout his earlier trials. When the hair proof was examined for DNA greater than 30 years later, the outcomes confirmed it was not Huffington’s hair.

Maryland’s highest court docket unanimously voted to disbar Cassilly in 2021. The court docket discovered he withheld exculpatory proof within the 1981 double homicide and lied about it within the following years.

Cassilly, who maintained he did nothing fallacious, retired in 2019. He died in January.

His brother, Bob Cassilly, who's now the Harford County government, stated in an announcement that his brother was a embellished conflict hero who was injured whereas serving his nation and served because the county's state's lawyer for 36 years whereas in a wheelchair.

“Joe can't defend himself on this decades-old matter as a result of he's now deceased, as are the opposite named defendants, aside from one who is sort of 80,” Cassilly stated. “Harford County authorities, by which I at present function county government, has no function on this case -- the county was by no means the defendants’ employer."

Huffington is also suing the assistant state’s lawyer on his case, Gerard Comen, the Harford County authorities, and the county sheriff’s workplace detectives, David Saneman, William Van Horn and Wesley J. Picha. All however Saneman are actually lifeless, based on the lawsuit filed July 15 in federal court docket in Baltimore.