SUB-HEADING: "Gary Washington was deemed innocent after serving three decades in prison, but a federal judge had initially ruled he was unable to pursue civil claims against the detectives that investigated the case."
GIST: "A panel of judges for the Fourth Circuit ruled Monday that a wrongfully convicted man can sue the Baltimore police detectives he claims framed him for murder.
U.S. Circuit Judge Stephanie Thacker, a Barack Obama appointee, wrote in a 26-page opinion that a federal judge misapplied collateral estoppel — a legal doctrine that prevents relitigating the same issues — when barring Gary Washington from arguing in a civil rights lawsuit that detectives coerced witness testimony.
“Precluding appellant from litigating his colorable claims for relief would bar him from taking even a single bite of the apple regarding appellees’ alleged misconduct,” Thacker wrote.
Washington served more than 30 years in prison for the 1986 murder of Faheem “Bobo” Ali before a circuit judge ruled in 2018 he was innocent, pointing to the decision of the sole witness in the case to recant his testimony.
Washington filed a federal lawsuit in 2019 against the Baltimore Police Department and its detectives, claiming they violated his civil rights by coercing the witness, who was 12 years old at the time of the crime, into naming Washington as the shooter.
U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher initially granted summary judgment to the detectives and determined collateral estoppel barred Washington from using evidence of the boy’s coercion in his lawsuit.
The Donald Trump appointee had pointed to a 1999 post-conviction ruling by the circuit court that found the witness’ recantation was not credible, even though the circuit judge who vacated Washington’s conviction in 2018 came to the opposite conclusion.
The panel ruled in a unanimous decision that the findings from the post-conviction ruling were trumped by the circuit judge’s 2018 decision.
"Appellees may not rely on the determination by the Post-Conviction Decision court that Robinson’s recantation was incredible. Consequently, Robinson’s original testimony did not provide probable cause to arrest and prosecute appellant. Thus, his civil claims against appellees that rely on Robinson’s recantation may proceed," Thacker said.
The panel also said that Gallagher’s ruling led to an “unfair and inequitable result” that ignored the purpose of collateral estoppel — to promote judicial efficiency and fairness.
"The possibility of the current lawsuit did not materialize until after appellee had obtained his writ of actual innocence. To permit nonmutual, defensive collateral estoppel in this specific context would prohibit a lawsuit from happening at all," Thacker wrote, noting Washington wouldn't even have been able to bring his civil claims while the criminal conviction was active.
The opinion echoed arguments Washington’s attorney made at an Oct. 30 hearing.
Renee Spence from Loevy & Loevy in Chicago told the panel that it was fundamentally unfair that a 25-year-old, discredited order could bar Washington from seeking redress through a lawsuit.
“It takes decades to unwind misconduct,” Spence said, and it would be doubly unfair if, after Washington was finally cleared of the murder, the delay helped the defendants avoid justice.
The panel also affirmed Gallagher’s decision to dismiss a due process claim in the suit based on insufficient evidence, but reversed another decision to dismiss a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress.
U.S. Circuit Judges Paul Niemeyer, a Ronald Reagan appointee, and A. Marvin Quattlebaum Jr., a Donald Trump appointee, joined in the decision, with Niemeyer issuing a concurring opinion."
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.courthousenews.com/fourth-circuit-revives-baltimore-mans-wrongful-conviction-suit-over-1986-murder/PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
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FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
