Baltimore man asks Fourth Circuit to OK lawsuit over wrongful conviction in 1986 murder case

(CN) — A wrongfully convicted man asked a Fourth Circuit panel to allow him to sue the Baltimore police detectives he claims framed him for murder.

The panel considered whether a district judge misapplied collateral estoppel, a legal doctrine that prevents relitigation of the same issues, in barring Gary Washington from arguing in a civil rights lawsuit that detectives coerced witness testimony.

Washington served more than 30 years in prison for the murder of Faheem “Bobo” Ali, who was fatally shot in December 1986 outside Washington’s home in Baltimore.

A circuit judge vacated his conviction in 2016 after the sole witness in the case recanted. The witness, only 12 years old at the time of the crime, told the judge that detectives threatened to remove him from his mother’s home and coerced him into naming Washington as the shooter.

Washington filed a federal lawsuit in 2019 against the Baltimore Police Department and its detectives, claiming they violated his civil rights by fabricating evidence in the case.

U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher granted summary judgment four years later.

Gallagher, a Donald Trump appointee, determined collateral estoppel barred Washington from using evidence of the boy’s coercion in his lawsuit. She pointed to a judge’s post-conviction ruling in 1999 that found the witness’s recantation was not credible, even though the judge who vacated Washington’s conviction came to the opposite conclusion.

Washington’s attorney, Renee Spence from Loevy & Loevy in Chicago, argued at Wednesday’s appeal hearing that the district judge misapplied the legal doctrine.

Spence said collateral estoppel only applies to valid and final orders, but the post-conviction ruling was invalidated by the judge who vacated Washington’s conviction. The earlier ruling was also too ambiguous to preclude Washington’s claims, she said.

But, just as important, the decision was unjust, Spence argued. Collateral estoppel is meant to promote judicial efficiency and fairness, but it is fundamentally unfair to use a 25-year-old, discredited order to 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.

U.S. Circuit Judge Paul Niemeyer, a Ronald Reagan appointee, expressed skepticism of the arguments.

A judge heard evidence of the witness’s recantation at the post-conviction relief hearing in 1999 and dismissed it.

“I don’t know why that doesn’t get some weight,” Niemeyer said. “That’s a pretty serious thing.”

U.S. Circuit Judge Stephanie Thacker pointed out the judge’s order vacating Washington’s conviction could not be ignored either. The Barack Obama appointee asked Michael Redmond, director of appellate practice for the City of Baltimore, how dismissing the suit would be equitable and fair.

Redmond responding by saying that allowing the lawsuit to proceed would harm the detectives. Evidence has likely disappeared and memories grew vague decades after the crime.

U.S. Circuit Judge A. Marvin Quattlebaum Jr., a Donald Trump appointee, said that argument cut both ways.

“You’re certainly right that defending the claims may be difficult, but prosecuting the claims may be difficult,” Quattlebaum said. “Mr. Washington was in jail for a long time and the state of Maryland has declared him actually innocent.”

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