Maryland

Maryland board to vote on $2.9 million in compensation for wrongfully convicted Baltimore man

Published

2 years ago

April 20, 2024

Maryland board to vote on .9 million in compensation for wrongfully convicted Baltimore man

The Maryland Board of Public Works will vote on whether to award $2.9 million in compensation to a Baltimore man who served 31 years in prison before he was exonerated.

Gary Washington, 63, was convicted of first-degree murder and use of a handgun in a crime of violence in the 1986 fatal shooting of Faheem Ali and sentenced to life in prison. After a Baltimore City Circuit Court judge vacated his convictions in 2018, he was freed from prison and the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office dismissed the charges against him in early 2019.

The three-member Board of Public Works — composed of Democrats Gov. Wes Moore, Comptroller Brooke E. Lierman and State Treasurer Dereck Davis — is scheduled to vote Washington’s compensation at its May 1 meeting, according to an agenda posted online Friday.

An administrative law judge found that under the statute, Washington is entitled to $94,991, or the current median household income in Maryland, for each of the 31 years or “11,459 days” he was erroneously confined.

Key to the ruling that led to the reversal of his conviction was testimony from a 12-year-old witness, Otis Robinson, who recanted in 1999 and said police forced him to identify Washington falsely.

In a federal lawsuit filed in 2019 against five former Baltimore Police officers, Washington said detectives investigating Ali’s death coerced Robinson and a 13-year-old girl into testifying by threatening to take them away from their parents. Robinson said police told him: “If I didn’t cooperate, I would never see my mother again,” according to Washington’s lawsuit.

A U.S. District Court judge ruled in favor of the officers last year, finding that legal questions about Robinson’s credibility were long settled and could not be used to continue the lawsuit. Washington’s attorneys have since appealed the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, where it is still pending.

Although the original lawsuit named five detectives, the Baltimore Police Department, the mayor and the city council, only claims against three officers remain as part of the ongoing appeal. Renee Spence, Washington’s attorney in that case, declined to comment Friday.

If the state board approves Washington’s compensation, he would receive the first payment by June 4 and the rest in installments over two and a half years. The Maryland Department of Budget and Management approved that “expedited” payment timeline, according to the board’s agenda.

Washington would become the 14th person to receive compensation under the Walter Lomax Act, a 2021 law the Maryland General Assembly passed to clarify how money should be awarded to people wrongfully convicted of crimes. The law was named for Walter Lomax, who spent nearly 40 years behind bars for a murder he didn’t commit and then fought for years to receive compensation from the state.

The board has awarded more than $9.2 million since the Lomax Act went into effect, not including compensation given out before that to 11 people after 2017 legislation expanded the eligibility of wrongfully convicted people, according to the board.

An administrative law judge granted Washington’s petition for compensation in January, finding that Washington did not shoot and kill Ali and was not involved in the crime as an accomplice or accessory. After the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office requested that a judge review that finding, Baltimore Circuit Court Associate Judge Troy K. Hill upheld the administrative law judge’s decision on April 5.

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Maryland

Attempted traffic stop leads to arrest of Maryland man wanted for kidnapping

Published

26 minutes ago

December 13, 2025

Press Room

Attempted traffic stop leads to arrest of Maryland man wanted for kidnapping

Frederick County Sheriff’s Office (FCSO) announced the arrest of a man wanted for kidnapping on Thursday afternoon.

Suba Washington Jr., 27, of Williamsport, Maryland, was apprehended in Frederick after an attempted traffic stop early Thursday morning, according to deputies.

The pursuit

When officers tried to pull over a Hyundai Elantra in the 7300 block of Crestwood Blvd., the driver, later identified as Washington, refused to stop.

Deputies were later notified that Washington was wanted on charges of kidnapping, first-degree assault, second-degree assault, and reckless endangerment in Washington County, Maryland.

As Washington fled northbound on Route 85, he struck a car near Crestwood Blvd. and Buckeystown Pike; however, the driver of the vehicle was unharmed as the suspect continued onto northbound I-270 and then westbound I-70.

Washington’s tires were eventually flattened after deputies deployed stop sticks near the Middletown exit.

Though the pursuit still wasn’t over, as the vehicle managed to cross over into Washington County, where the Washington County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) and Maryland State Police (MSP) aided in apprehension.

Washington was taken into custody after his vehicle approached the Route 40 exit, coming to a full stop on the highway.

The charges

A 17-year-old in the passenger seat was found with Washington during the pursuit. The teenager was released to WSCO.

According to FCSO, Washington Jr. was taken to the Frederick County Adult Detention Center and charged with numerous traffic citations, including reckless driving, negligent driving, and two counts of attempting to elude law enforcement.

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Maryland

Maryland to launch study on economic impacts of climate change

Published

13 hours ago

December 12, 2025

Press Room

Maryland to launch study on economic impacts of climate change

Maryland will launch a study to analyze the economic impacts of climate change to determine the costs associated with storm damage and health outcomes.

The move is part of the Moore-Miller administration’s strategic approach to investing in a clean energy economy and modernizing the state’s energy infrastructure.

“While the federal government has spent the past year rolling back climate protections and driving up energy costs, Maryland is taking a responsible step toward understanding the true price tag of climate change,” Gov. Wes Moore said in a statement. “This study will give us a clear, data-driven look at the real burden taxpayers are shouldering as climate change drives more extreme and costly weather events.”

The RENEW Act Study will be funded by investments and state sources, including $30,000 from philanthropic funding and $470,000 from the Strategic Energy Investment Fund, to assess the burden that Marylanders are paying due to intense weather events and environmental shifts.

Marylanders on climate change

The announcement comes months after Maryland lawmakers opposed a proposal by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to recind its 2009 endangerment finding, which determined that greenhouse gases were a danger to public health.

Lawmakers raised concerns that the move would mean engine and vehicle manufacturers would not be required to measure, control or report greenhouse gas emissions. They also raised concerns that the decision could impact climate change and harm local communities.

The EPA said it intended to retain regulations for pollutant and toxic air measurement and standards. In September, the agency initiated the formal process to reconsider the finding.

In March, a Johns Hopkins University poll found that nearly 73% of surveyed Baltimore City and County residents were concerned that climate change would affect them.

According to the study, city residents were more concerned about personal harm from climate change than county residents. However, county residents expected to see higher costs in the next five years due to climate change.

About 70% of Baltimore area residents believe climate change will increase costs for homeowners and businesses in the next five years, the study found.

An April report ranked the Washington/Baltimore/Arlington region as the 36th worst in the country and second worst in the mid-Atlantic region for ozone smog. The report graded Baltimore County an “F” for ozone smog.

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