Arrr! Baltimore be coughin' up a mighty $48M to the wrongfully condemned sea dogs in the '83 'Georgetown jacket' crime!
2023-10-20
Arrr, me hearties! Baltimore be coughin' up a hefty booty o' $48 million to Alfred Chestnut, Andrew Stewart, and Ransom Watkins. These poor souls, they be havin' spent a dreadful 36 years in the brig fer a murder they be not guilty o'. Aye, justice be a cruel mistress!
Baltimore has agreed to pay $48 million to three Black men who were wrongly imprisoned for 36 years for a high-profile killing when they were teenagers. The settlement, which is the largest in Maryland history, was unanimously approved by the Baltimore City Board of Estimates. The men, known as the "Harlem Park Three," were exonerated in 2019 after a reinvestigation by the State's Attorney for Baltimore City found them innocent.The men alleged that detectives had a pattern of coercing witnesses, and eyewitnesses renounced their previous testimony that led to their wrongful convictions. The settlement includes $14.9 million for each of the men and $3.3 million for legal fees. The wrongful arrests occurred in 1983 when the men were minors. They were accused of killing a 14-year-old boy over his blue Georgetown jacket.
New evidence discovered in 2018 showed that multiple witnesses identified a different suspect as the shooter, but the authorities focused their investigation on the trio. The other suspect was shot to death in 2002. The settlement highlights the "gross injustices" within the justice system, according to Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott.
The city's payment is part of the effort to address the misconduct of Baltimore Police Department officers in the past. The Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project, a legal aid group that helped prove the men's innocence, stated that no amount of money can compensate for the lost years in prison. In March 2020, the Maryland Board of Public Works had previously approved $8.7 million in compensation for the three men.