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 regulation 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 accredited $2.9 million in compensation for Huffington later that yr throughout Gov. Wes Moore's administration.

Huffington mentioned in an announcement Thursday that “it took many, many painful years, however the reality ultimately got here out.” Simply 18 on the time of his arrest, he mentioned neither of his dad and mom ever obtained to see and perceive that his identify had been cleared and he was let loose.

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

Huffington, 62, all the time 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 known as the “Memorial Day Murders.” Diane Becker was stabbed to dying in her leisure automobile, 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 in opposition to 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 Legal professional Joseph Cassilly did not present it to Huffington’s legal professionals.

A Frederick County choose vacated Huffington’s convictions and ordered a brand new trial in 2013 after Huffington introduced new proof utilizing DNA testing that was not accessible 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 incorrect, retired in 2019. He died in January.

His brother, Bob Cassilly, who's now the Harford County govt, mentioned in an announcement that his brother was a embellished struggle hero who was injured whereas serving his nation and served because the county's state's legal professional 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, apart from one who is nearly 80,” Cassilly mentioned. “Harford County authorities, wherein I presently function county govt, has no position on this case -- the county was by no means the defendants’ employer."

Huffington is also suing the assistant state’s legal professional 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, in keeping with the lawsuit filed July 15 in federal court docket in Baltimore.