Gov. Larry Hogan pardons man who spent more than decade on death row

Gov. Larry Hogan pardons man who spent more than decade on death row

January 14th, 2023 by WCBC Radio

Gov. Larry Hogan on Friday pardoned a man who spent more than a decade on death row. WBAL reports John Huffington was convicted in 1981 on two counts of first-degree murder in Caroline County and was sentenced to death.

Huffington's sentence was reversed on appeal in 1982, and he was granted a new trial, which was transferred to Frederick County. That trial resulted in his conviction in 1983 on murder, robbery and gun charges. He was again sentenced to death plus prison time.

Huffington's convictions were vacated and he was released from prison in 2013 pending a new trial.

In April 2013, DNA analysis of two hairs recovered from the crime scene revealed they did not match Huffington.

In 2017, Huffington entered an Alford plea, for which he was sentenced to 32 years, one month and 24 days of time served and 24 days of unsupervised probation.

Then, in 2021, Maryland's highest court disbarred the prosecutor in the case for prosecutorial misconduct, some of which occurred during Huffington's trials.