BALTIMORE — Baltimore City's Board of Estimates on Wednesday agreed to settle another lawsuit against three former police detectives convicted in the Gun Trace Task Force scandal.
In October 2015, Darnell Earl claims to have been a passenger in a vehicle that was pulled over by officers Marcus Taylor, Evodio Hendrix, and Wayne Jenkins.
The trio ended up recovering a gun from underneath Earl's seat. He eventually pleaded guilty and spent a year-and-a-half in prison.
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At the time of his arrest, Earl had a criminal record that already included prior convictions for illegal possession of a firearm.
In 2017, all three arresting officers pleaded guilty to federal RICO violations, prompting Earl to petition a court to withdraw his guilty plea and overturn his conviction. That request was ultimately granted.
Three years later Earl filed a lawsuit alleging that Taylor, Hendrix, and Jenkins planted the gun.
The board's vote now paves the way for the City to pay Earl $575,000.00, in exchange for all claims against the police department being dropped.
In April 2020 Maryland's high court turned down the city's attempt to avoid similar payouts, where they argued that detectives had acted outside the scope of their employment when they committed the crimes.
MORE: Board of Estimates agrees to $525k lawsuit settlement involving former BPD GTTF detectives
This case marks more than 30 lawsuits that the City has settled related to the GTTF, resulting in over $15 million in payouts.
