Exonerated after serving 36yrs for murder

[Eldorado]

Three men incarcerated for 36 years in Maryland were exonerated on Monday in the killing of a Baltimore teenager, after a review of their case.

Alfred Chestnut, Ransom Watkins and Andrew Stewart were expected to be released from prison hours after a judge cleared their convictions and prosecutors dropped the charges. They were teenagers when they were sentenced to life in prison in 1984.

“On behalf of the criminal justice system, and I’m sure this means very little to you gentlemen, I’m going to apologize,” the circuit court judge Charles Peters told the men, the Baltimore Sun reported."

Full report at the UK Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/nov/25/maryland-men-exonerated-murder-36-years

And at CNN: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/26/us/baltimore-men-freed-after-1983-wrongful-conviction/index.html

[Phaeton80]

And all three are black.. what a surprise.

Quote

“On behalf of the criminal justice system, and I’m sure this means very little to you gentlemen, I’m going to apologize,”

Oh thats allright then. Hope these gentlemen have an impressive financial recompence forthcoming.

 

 

[zep73]

In Europe you are innocent until proven guilty. In the US you are guilty until proven innocent (unless you can afford a good lawyer).

[+OverSword]

35 minutes ago, Phaeton80 said:

And all three are black.. what a surprise.

Oh thats allright then. Hope these gentlemen have an impressive financial recompence forthcoming.

 

That varies by state.  A previous case Maryland in which a man convicted of murder in 1974 and exonerated in 2002 paid $1.4 million.  A pittance imo.  Here is an article with more details about the current state of this subject in that state