Skip to content
August 31, 2025
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • tiktok
MILLENNIUM NEWS 24/7

MILLENNIUM NEWS 24/7

Bridging The Community’s World Wide

  • Home
  • IP TV LIVE
  • PODCAST
  • U.S.News
  • LOCAL ELECTION
  • State News
    • Alabama
    • Alaska
    • Arizona
    • Arkansas
    • California
    • Colorado
    • Connecticut
    • Delaware
    • Florida
    • Georgia
    • Hawaii
    • Idaho
    • Illinois
    • Indiana
    • Iowa
    • Kansas
    • Kentucky
    • Louisiana
    • Maryland
    • Massachusetts
    • Michigan
    • Maine
    • Minnesota
    • Mississippi
    • Missouri
    • Montana
    • Nebraska
    • Nevada
    • New Hampshire
    • New Jersey
    • New Mexico
    • New York
    • North Carolina
    • North Dakota
    • Oregon
    • Pennsylvania
    • Rhode Island
    • South Carolina
    • South Dakota
    • Tennessee
    • Texas
    • Virginia
    • Washington
    • West Virginia
    • U.S. Virgin Islands
  • Politics
  • World News
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
  • Weather
  • Business
  • Health News
  • ADVERTISEMENT
  • About Us
  • Contact us
Live TV

Baltimore to pay $48 million to 3 men wrongly imprisoned for decades in ‘Georgetown jacket’ killing

Baltimore will pay $48 million to three Black men who each spent 36 years in prison for a high-profile killing they did not commit after police wrongly arrested them as teenagers, according to an agreement.

The largest settlement in Maryland history was unanimously approved this week by the Baltimore City Board of Estimates, closing a federal lawsuit brought by the trio after their 2019 exoneration. The men alleged that detectives had a pattern of coercing witnesses, not just in their nearly 40-year-old case.

The State’s Attorney for Baltimore City had found them innocent after a reinvestigation. Eyewitnesses renounced previous testimony that had contributed to the wrongful convictions.

“These are men who went to jail as teens and came out as young grandfathers in their fifties,” Justin Conroy, the chief legal counsel for the Baltimore Police Department, told the board on Wednesday in a meeting shared on YouTube.

Alfred Chestnut, Andrew Stewart and Ransom Watkins — known today as the “Harlem Park Three” — will each receive $14.9 million. The remaining $3.3 million will cover legal fees, Conroy said.

Authorities arrested the minors in November 1983 for the slaying of 14-year-old DeWitt Duckett. The teenager was walking to class when was accosted over his blue Georgetown jacket and shot.

Chestnut, Watkins and Stewart had been removed earlier that afternoon from the same Baltimore middle school during a visit to their old stomping grounds. Police also found a Georgetown jacket during their Thanksgiving Day search of the Chestnut home, but Chestnut’s mother had a receipt for it, said the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project, a legal aid group that helped prove their innocence.

A 2018 records request filed by Chestnut shed new light on the case. It uncovered evidence showing multiple witnesses told officials that a different 18-year-old suspect was the shooter. One student saw him flee and dump a gun as police arrived at Harlem Park Junior High School.

Authorities at the time focused their investigation on the trio, and the other suspect was shot to death in 2002. Conroy told the Baltimore City Board of Estimates that he is not aware of any new investigations into prosecutorial misconduct or the 1983 fatal shooting.

The settlement speaks to “gross injustices” wrought by a “broader justice system” long beset by issues it is working to overcome, said Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott in a statement read aloud Wednesday by a board member.

“Our city is in a position where in 2023 we are literally paying for the misconduct of BPD officers decades in the past. This is part of the price our city must pay to right the many wrongs of this terrible history,” Scott said in the statement.

The sum adds to the $8.7 million total approved in March 2020 by the Maryland Board of Public Works to compensate the three men.

In a Facebook post, the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project said “no amount of money can make up for the 36 years that each man lost” in prison.

—-

Pollard is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

About Author

dreamboy

See author's posts

Post navigation

Previous Trial of a man accused of killing a New Hampshire couple on a hiking trail nears conclusion
Next Illinois government employee fired after posting antisemitic comments on social media

Related Stories

Chicago mayor defies Trump’s immigration crackdown plan for the city

Chicago mayor defies Trump’s immigration crackdown plan for the city

Drones blasting AC/DC and Scarlett Johansson are helping biologists protect cattle from wolves

Drones blasting AC/DC and Scarlett Johansson are helping biologists protect cattle from wolves

Boy wounded in Minnesota church shooting asks doctor: ‘Can you say a prayer with me?’

Boy wounded in Minnesota church shooting asks doctor: ‘Can you say a prayer with me?’

Entertainment

Lady Gaga will perform during the MTV Video Music Awards. Here’s everything to know about the show 1

Lady Gaga will perform during the MTV Video Music Awards. Here’s everything to know about the show

Julia Roberts’ ‘After the Hunt’ stirs #MeToo debate at Venice Film Festival 2

Julia Roberts’ ‘After the Hunt’ stirs #MeToo debate at Venice Film Festival

Rodion Shchedrin, the celebrated Russian composer, has died at age 92 3

Rodion Shchedrin, the celebrated Russian composer, has died at age 92

James Cameron on two decades of making ‘Avatar’ and the future he sees for movies 4

James Cameron on two decades of making ‘Avatar’ and the future he sees for movies

Katy Perry testifies that she’s seeking ‘justice’ at trial over $15 million mansion 5

Katy Perry testifies that she’s seeking ‘justice’ at trial over $15 million mansion

Lil Nas X charged with attacking police officers as he walked naked on Los Angeles street 6

Lil Nas X charged with attacking police officers as he walked naked on Los Angeles street

Pennsylvania’s Chautauqua is a summertime haven for lifelong learners 7

Pennsylvania’s Chautauqua is a summertime haven for lifelong learners

Top News

Court hearing set Sunday on US efforts to deport some Guatemalan children

Court hearing set Sunday on US efforts to deport some Guatemalan children

Chicago mayor defies Trump’s immigration crackdown plan for the city

Chicago mayor defies Trump’s immigration crackdown plan for the city

Driver involved in crashes in Southington and Cheshire is in critical condition, police say

Driver involved in crashes in Southington and Cheshire is in critical condition, police say

Trump Taps Federal Agents to Tackle Local Policing. That’s Not Always Helpful, Critics Say

Trump Taps Federal Agents to Tackle Local Policing. That’s Not Always Helpful, Critics Say

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • tiktok
Editor: Nur M Tofader, Office: 250 Park Avenue, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10177 & Tell: 718 893 0002 (Office), 7188441300, +1212 401 6266, e-mail: Info@millenniuamtv24.com, e-mail: Info@millenniuamnews24.com, Copyright © Millennium News 24/7 | DarkNews by AF themes.