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Maryland board approves $8.7M for 3 wrongly imprisoned men

March 4th, 2020 by WCBC Radio

A Maryland board voted Wednesday to pay a total of $8.7 million to three men who were wrongly imprisoned for more than 35 years each for a murder they did not commit.

The Board of Public Works, comprising the governor, comptroller and treasurer, voted 3-0 to compensate Alfred Chestnut, Andrew Stewart and Ransom Watkins about $2.9 million each. They were exonerated last year in the 1983 slaying of a Baltimore junior high school student.

“All of them experienced unimaginable pain while they were incarcerated, and there is no question that they deserve to be justly compensated as they work to rebuild their lives," Gov. Larry Hogan said.

 

The men were teenagers when they were sentenced to life in prison in 1984 for the slaying of 14-year-old DeWitt Duckett, who was shot in the neck while walking to class at a Baltimore school.

2 Responses to “Maryland board approves $8.7M for 3 wrongly imprisoned men”

  1. March 04, 2020 at 5:53 pm, Steve said:

    Why don’t they hold the Prosecutor, the folks whom apparently fabricated evidence, the S.A. in charge @ that time….etc, etc… instead of the taxpayers of Maryland. I feel for these fellows, however… Hope they recover well. 2.9 million sure does help! I would not want to go through what they encountered, just hold the correct people accountable.

    Reply

    • March 05, 2020 at 9:45 am, Dan said:

      >The S.A. represents the state, therefore the state pays.

      Reply

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