Author | Victoria Hammill | Jan. 14 2019
When I think about wrongful convictions, I think of the cases where a person has spent
decades in prison for a homicide they were wrongfully accused of committing. Many people will say that this is not only the minority of convictions, but this is the minority of wrongful convictions. Yes, that is true, but that does not discredit the hundreds of people whose lives have been destroyed. This story is that case. This is a case where 3 men went to jail as teenagers for a homicide they did not commit, and did not see the light of day until 36 years later when they were in their 50’s.
Alfred Chestnut, Ransom Watkins, and Andrew Stewart were still in high school in November 1983 when they were convicted of the murder of 14 year old DeWitt Duckett. DeWitt was shot in the hallway of his middle school over his Georgetown University jacket. The three boys were visiting the school earlier that day to talk to old teachers but left a few hours before the murder. The prosecution argued that the boys must have snuck back into the school to try and rob DeWitt and ended up shooting him. It was not until 36 years later that the original detectives’ police file was unsealed and evidence was found that multiple witnesses came forward and gave statements that only one person killed DeWitt, and neither Alred, Ransom or Andrew were anywhere near the scene of the crime at the time of the murder.
Throughout his time in jail Alfred Chestnut never stopped fighting for his and his friends' freedom. He worked tirelessly writing letters seeking support for his case to be reviewed; finally the Conviction Integrity Unit picked up his letter. The Conviction Integrity Unit was one of the many similar units established all over the United States in prosecutors offices assigned to re-examining past convictions to find possible wrongful convictions. The letter sparked an interest in the unit, and they began looking back into the court proceedings and the unsealed files from the detective. They discovered witnesses who were coerced into giving false testimony, evidence ignored, and disregarded testimony of a different assailant.
This was all enough evidence for a judge to declare the men innocent and they were exonerated in November 2019, 36 years after their conviction. The fact that these men were exonerated after all this time is a miracle, compared to all the people who will never be heard or given a second chance. But that does not mean that these men will now have easy lives. They are fortunate enough to have come out of prison with families and fiancés waiting for them to give them a support system. But they still went to prison when they were only teenagers which means they did not receive any formal education outside of prison. Alfred, Ransom, and Andrew were victims of a massive miscarriage of justice and should be adequately compensated for what they went through and all the trauma and struggles which will come with aclimating to life outside of prison walls. Unfortunately, Maryland currently has no formal system of compensation and no established process to compensate exonerees. There is also no established support system for exonerees to aid them with reacclimating back into society, including no assistance with medical and mental health support, education, or housing. The exonerees are simply left to figure it out on their own with the help of any family or friends they may have on the outside, but not everyone has people to come home to after decades locked away.
The mayor of Baltimore has recently begun to establish a ‘Resurrection After Exoneration’ program to give exonerees access to all the support services listed above. In addition to the mayors initiative, Governor Larry Hogan has petitioned to compensate exonerees, starting with awarding $100,000 for each year incarcerated for five other men who have been exonerated over the years. The five men are, Jerome Johnson, Lamar Johnson, Walter Lomax, Clarence Shipley and Hubert James Williams who have all spent varying years in prison for different crimes. If the Governor is able to get this passed, Maryland would pay over $9 million dollars to these five men. While Alfred, Ransom, and Andrew are not part of the five men, this does give hope that they may one day be able to receive compensation.
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