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

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Maryland board to vote on $2.9 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. 

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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. 

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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

CAIR, Maryland Mosque Leaders Facing Opposition in Harford County to Hold News Conference Following Eid Prayers –

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CAIR, Maryland Mosque Leaders Facing Opposition in Harford County to Hold News Conference Following Eid Prayers –


On Sunday, June 16, the Maryland office of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) plans to join mosque leaders at the Harford Islamic Center/Masjid Ibrahim in Bel Air, Maryland, to hold a news conference following Eid prayers to express unity and support for the mosque that was opened three months ago and to reject […]



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Angela Alsobrooks under scrutiny for Maryland police reforms – Washington Examiner

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Angela Alsobrooks under scrutiny for Maryland police reforms – Washington Examiner


Former Maryland State’s Attorney Angela Alsobrooks is under fire for controversial police reforms she implemented that critics say instigated a spike in crime. 

In 2020, George Floyd’s death while in police custody galvanized the Black Lives Matter movement, sparking nationwide and widespread calls to defund the police. Around the same time, Prince George County’s Police Chief Hank Stawinski resigned after a report was released alleging a history of misconduct, discrimination, and racially charged comments.

Fresh from Stawinski’s resignation and Floyd’s death, Alsobroooks fell in line with activists’ calls to implement police reform. 

Alsobrooks, who is now running against former Republican Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan to replace retiring Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), created the Prince George’s County Police Reform Working Group in July 2020. In December, the group released a report with close to 50 recommendations for addressing “many of the local and national debates about racism and policing.” 

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FILE – Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, center, listens during a bill hearing in Maryland, Jan. 23, 2020, in Annapolis, Maryland. (AP Photo/Brian Witte, File)

The former state attorney accepted 46 of the police reform recommendations in 2021, saying, “I believe that our families deserve to live in places where they have both justice and freedom.”

Alsobrooks is facing criticism for enacting one recommendation in particular: reallocating $20 million in funds designated for a police training facility to a mental health rehabilitation center for prisoners. 

“We feel if we focus on restorative approaches and restorative practices to prevent some of the low-level crimes that occur throughout our county and within our school system, that we can reallocate those dollars for mental health and other services … that are much needed within our county,” then-state Del. Alonzo Washington, one of the co-chairs of the working group, recommended in 2020. 

Alsobrooks agreed, saying during a 2022 interview with Ebenezer AME Church, “And so one of the things that we’ve done during our administration is, I decided that we were going to reallocate $20 million away from a police training facility. Now, we still have a training facility, but this one was going to be very expensive. And I have decided that you can’t heal people in jail.”

“I have reallocated, with the support of the County Council who had to vote to approve it — and it was also on your ballot in 2020. You had to approve it as well — but we instead have reallocated $20 million. And we are now opening the doors to a new mental health care and addictions care facility that will be opening the doors this July, in partnership with luminous health care, so that we can actually heal our loved ones and not treat them in jail,” she added. 

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CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Alsobrooks made the reallocation as Prince George’s County saw a 16% increase in overall violent crime from 2019 to 2020, a 58% increase in reported homicides, a 19% increase in reported robberies, and a 15% increase in reported aggravated assaults. According to FBI statistics, violent crime in the county has increased 30% through 2022. 

During her primary campaign, Alsobrooks faced criticism for not being progressive enough. Challenger David Trone criticized her for supporting the death penalty in a murder case during her time as state attorney, while Prince George’s County Councilwoman Krystal Oriadha claimed that Alsobrooks as county executive hadn’t shown enough support to the LGBT community. 



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Maryland Weather: Beautiful Father’s Day Weekend Weather

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Maryland Weather: Beautiful Father’s Day Weekend Weather


Meteorologist Derek Beasley has your Friday afternoon forecast | 06/14/2024

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Meteorologist Derek Beasley has your Friday afternoon forecast | 06/14/2024

03:58

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BALTIMORE — Scattered showers and thunderstorms will move across the area through Friday night but will clear out by Saturday morning. A cold front will push through the region overnight, bringing drier and less humid air for the upcoming Father’s Day weekend.

Saturday and Sunday both look great for outdoor activities, with high temperatures in the low 80s on Saturday and the low to mid-80s on Sunday. Low temperatures at night will drop into the upper 50s for Saturday night and then the low to mid-60s for Sunday night.

Next week begins a stretch of very hot weather across the area. Strong high pressure in the upper atmosphere will continue to intensify through the middle and latter part of the week, leading to dry conditions and significantly warmer temperatures.

High temperatures will reach the lower 90s on Monday and the low to mid-90s on Tuesday and Wednesday. By the end of the week, some of the warmest temperatures will occur, with highs topping out in the mid to upper 90s and some areas approaching 100 degrees by Friday and Saturday.

Humidity levels will remain manageable through the first part of the week, but by Thursday, Friday, and the weekend, heat index values will top 100 degrees for many locations. For anyone attending AFRAM next weekend, significant heat will be an issue, and precautions need to be taken to protect yourself from the heat.

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We will keep you updated on the significant heatwave for next week throughout the weekend. Be sure to tune in for the latest forecast on Saturday and Sunday with meteorologists Abigail Degler and Steve Sosna.



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