BALTIMORE — Baltimore's Board of Estimates approved a $48 million payout for three men wrongfully convicted of a murder in 1983.
Alfred Chestnut, Andrew Stewart and Ransom Watkins were exonerated back in 2019 — 36 years after being convicted of murdering a 14-year-old Baltimore teenager.
After being released, the three men filed a lawsuit against BPD claiming they had coerced and fabricated witness statements, leading to their wrongful convictions.
The suit says the detectives' misconduct was the direct result of a pattern and practice that existed within BPD at the time of their arrest.
They were each found guilty of shooting and killing DeWitt Duckett at Harlem Park Junior High School, over a Georgetown jacket the victim was wearing.
When police questioned the boys, one of the detectives allegedly told Ransom; "You have two things against you - you're Black and I have a badge."
Their case was re-opened by former Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby's Conviction Integrity Unit after Chestnut called expressing the three men's innocence.
RELATED: Three men exonerated 36 years after being convicted of teen's murder
After Duckett's murder, three of the four witnesses originally told police one person committed the crime, not the three boys.
A few days later though, a school security guard told police that a 14-year-old girl could identify the three boys.
Police then brought the other three witnesses back to the station for questioning, at which point they said Watkins, Chestnut, and Stewart committed the murder.
In May 1984, the jury deliberated for only three hours before convicting all three boys, who had claimed innocence from the beginning.
Council President Nick Mosby issued the following statement on the settlement:
Today our city paid a moral, ethical, and financial debt left on us by a previous generation and decades of injustice. First and foremost, our hearts are with Alfred Chestnut, Andrew Stewart, Ransom Watkins and their families. Nothing in this world can make up for the mental and emotional trauma that has been put on these innocent men and their families. No amount of compensation can right the wrongs of 36 years of turmoil and the residual effects these men, their families, and communities. We should not have one individual who did not commit a crime still sitting in jail. This system and the recurring list of wrongful convictions has robbed countless young black men of Baltimore City of their lives and liberties as fathers, brothers, grandfathers, and members of society. These three men were wrongfully sent to jail as teenagers, spent decades institutionalized, and now re-enter the free world and are expected to restart their lives. The toll on their physical and mental health is unimaginable. Our city should do everything in its power to provide the mental and emotional support these men, and anyone in their situations deserve.Furthermore, officers involved in wrongful arrests and misconduct in office should share responsibility in repaying their victims. Our city and state need to take a thorough look at pension reform and this Council fully intends to do so during our upcoming discussions on local control of the Baltimore Police Department. It’s critical that our city has more say on our own police department and how it carries itself, because we cannot repeat mistakes of the past. These men, the honorable men and women of our police department, and our city deserve better.
