Three Baltimore Men Finally Freed After 36 Years In Prison For Wrongful Murder Conviction Due To Withheld Evidence

Dec 04, 2019 by apost team

Imagine spending decades of your life in prison for a crime that you did not commit. That's exactly what Anthony Stewart, Alfred Chestnut and Ransom Watkins did for 36 years until they were released on Nov. 25, 2019. And what's scary is how many others are likely in prison for crimes they did not commit.
In this case, this reversal wasn't due to DNA evidence creating more evidence. The circumstances surrounding this were so much more troubling than that.

What led to their conviction in 1983 in connection with the killing of DeWitt Duckett, a 14-year-old boy, included police corruption and evidence suppression. In fact, some evidence that ended up clearing them had been sealed in an envelope with the threatening label, "Police Emergency Only: Not to be opened for any reason."

Some of the circumstances surrounding this horrific injustice included three witnesses stating that the murderer was someone else – a man who has since died – and none of them identifying any of the three defendants from photographs. Also, the witnesses were all interviewed without any of their parents or guardians being notified.

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When they were released, all three men were grinning and ecstatic to be out. However, that was simply because of all of the hardships of the last 36 years behind bars that led up to that moment.

"We went through hell," Watkins said afterwards.

Stewart said, "I sat on my bunk when I got the information, and I cried. I didn't know how to stop crying."

At the time of Duckett's death, Stewart was 17 while Watkins and Chestnut were 16. They were convicted partially because Duckett was said to have been killed for his jacket, and Chestnut had a similar one in his bedroom.

The fact that the jacket was purchased by Chestnut's mother and she had a receipt for it that she produced immediately apparently wasn't important to the case.

Also, all three of them had teachers vouch for them as being non-threatening students, but that also didn't stop them from being arrested on Thanksgiving and ultimately being convicted for these crimes. They were sentenced to life in prison.

It's already disturbing how horrific the conditions are in many of our prisons, but for three people to experience that for decades when they didn't even commit the crime that sent them there is terrifying. This pressure for convictions when the evidence doesn't support them has led to numerous ruined lives.

What are your thoughts on this case and what happened to these men?