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

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — A Maryland man who was wrongly imprisoned for 32 years, together with a decade on loss of life 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 authorised $2.9 million in compensation for Huffington later that 12 months throughout Gov. Wes Moore’s administration.

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

“All of these years I spent behind bars broken and strained my relationships, value me the power to have a household of my very own, value me the power to be with my mom when she died, value me valuable time with my father who was in his nineties and affected by Alzheimer’s after 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 referred to as the “Memorial Day Murders.” Diane Becker was stabbed to loss of life 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 just a few 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 loss of life. Prosecutors later commuted that sentence to 2 life phrases.

Questions on proof within the case arose when The Washington Submit 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 choose vacated Huffington’s convictions and ordered a brand new trial in 2013 after Huffington offered new proof utilizing DNA testing that was not obtainable 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 courtroom unanimously voted to disbar Cassilly in 2021. The courtroom 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, mentioned in an announcement that his brother was a adorned battle 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 mentioned. “Harford County authorities, wherein I at the moment function county government, has no position 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, in line with the lawsuit filed July 15 in federal courtroom in Baltimore.

Saneman instructed The Washington Submit on Wednesday he had not seen or heard of the lawsuit and declined to remark.