Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer DC team secures exoneree compensation victory in Baltimore

A pro bono team in our Washington, DC, office has secured another life changing result for a wrongfully convicted man from Baltimore, Maryland, in that team’s third victory in this critical area of pro bono work.

Our client spent more than twenty five years in prison for a murder he did not commit. As a result of flawed police work, he was arrested in the late 90s as a young man. The prosecution charged him as the shooter, based on tainted and unreliable eyewitness identifications. The jury rejected the murder charge, but convicted him of conspiracy. That conviction, a misdemeanor in Maryland at the time, resulted in a life sentence.

Decades later, post conviction counsel succeeded in overturning the conviction after uncovering a serious Brady violation. When the case moved to Maryland’s administrative compensation process for exonerees, the court agreed the evidence that supported his conviction was largely unreliable, but declined to find him actually innocent by clear and convincing evidence based almost entirely on the fact that his alibi witness did not appear at trial.  

Our team entered the case as appellate counsel because of our history of success in this space.

While briefing the appeal, we worked closely with trial counsel to re engage with the alibi witness. This time, she agreed to testify voluntarily. We then asked the Baltimore City Circuit Court to remand the case so the administrative court could consider this new evidence. Against all expectations, the court granted the request.

On remand, our co counsel – Stephen Mercer and Isabelle Raquin of Kramon & Graham in Baltimore – presented the alibi witness, and our team delivered a comprehensive closing argument addressing both the new testimony and the underlying errors we otherwise have raised on appeal. On Monday, the administrative court issued a ruling awarding our client significant compensation, along with access to essential health and education benefits. It is a transformative outcome for someone who lost more than 25 years of his life to a wrongful conviction.

This case follows a similar success our DC office achieved last year on behalf of another Baltimore man wrongfully imprisoned for a decade for conspiracy to commit murder, and before that for another man who wrongfully spent five years in prison for a murder and a shooting. Our team remains deeply committed to this work and will continue advocating for exonerees seeking long overdue recognition, restitution, and justice.

The HSF Kramer team consisted of Litigation partner Ralph C. Mayrell, senior associate Shikha Garg, and associate Mark Russell, with support from paralegals Christine Chase-Carpino and Joanna Lee.