Three Maryland men who were convicted of murdering a 14-year-old in Baltimore have been exonerated after spending 36 years in jail. Alfred Chestnut, Ransom Watkins, and Andrew Stewart were teenagers in 1984 when they were sentenced to life in prison for the murder of DeWitt Duckett, who was shot in the neck while walking to class because the suspect wanted his Georgetown jacket.
Chestnut maintained his innocence and was denied early release because he refused to take responsibility for the killing.
Last spring, Chestnut filed an information request and discovered that prosecutors had withheld exculpatory evidence from their defense teams. He learned that prosecutors had anonymous statements that identified another suspect in the shooting. They told the police that another teen admitted to shooting Duckett and was seen wearing his Georgetown jacket.
Police also interviewed several witnesses in a group setting and told them they needed to "get their story together." Those witnesses failed to identify the three men in photos before the trial.
He sent a letter to the Conviction Integrity Unit with his findings, and the case was reopened.
"We have intentional concealment and misrepresentation of the exculpatory evidence, evidence that would have showed that it was someone else other than these defendants," Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby said.
The men, who were arrested on Thanksgiving in 1983, are excited that they finally get to spend the holidays with their loved ones.
“I’ve been always dreaming of this,” Chestnut said after being released. “All my friends in prison know that I’ve always been talking about this, dreaming about this all of the time. Even when I was a kid, you know? ‘Why is this happening to me?’”