Baltimore Pays $48M Settlement to Trio Wrongfully Convicted in 1983 Murder Case

"Harlem Park Three" to receive $14.9 million each for egregious investigative misconduct; Convictions overturned following discovery of concealed evidence pointing to a different suspect.

• Alfred Chestnut, Ransom Watkins and Andrew Stewart, known as the 'Harlem Park Three', were arrested and wrongfully convicted in 1983 for the murder of 14-year-old DeWitt Duckett.
• The three men spent 36 years in prison and were later exonerated in 2019 after Chestnut filed a public records request, revealing concealed evidence and pointing to a different suspect.
• Their lawsuit claimed investigation misconduct, including the intentional concealment of exculpatory evidence, coercing false testimony from young witnesses, and shaping evidence to fit the chosen narrative.
• The $48 million settlement, approved by Baltimore City’s Board of Estimates, is the largest in Maryland's history and will be divided equally among the trio, with $14.9 million each and the remaining amount to cover legal fees.
• Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott acknowledged the gross injustices of the past, stating that the city is 'literally paying for the misconduct of Baltimore Police Department officers decades in the past.'

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