A Maryland board approved the payment of over $340,000 for a man who was wrongfully convicted and wound up spending more than five years in prison.
A man wrongly convicted of two separate violent crimes will beafter spending years behind bars, including over a year after he had been proven innocent.
Gov. Wes Moore, who chairs the three-member Board of Public Works, apologized to Smith before the board approved the settlement, noting that it's been more than a decade since his release in 2013. Less than two months after his arrest, while on bail, Smith was arrested and taken into custody for first-degree assault. Once again, the prosecution relied on witnesses who later recanted their testimony, the governor said.
In 2010, Smith was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, plus 18 years. In 2011, he entered an Alford plea for the assault charge, maintaining his innocence. Moore said Smith entered the plea after losing faith in the criminal justice system. Under an Alford plea, the defendant does not admit guilt but acknowledges the likelihood of a conviction if the case went to trial.
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