In a historic settlement, the city of Baltimore has agreed to pay $48 million to three Black men who were wrongfully convicted of murder as teenagers and spent 36 years in prison. The settlement, unanimously approved by the Baltimore City Board of Estimates, marks the largest settlement in Maryland history and brings closure to a federal lawsuit filed by Alfred Chestnut, Ransom Watkins, and Andrew Stewart after their exoneration in 2019.

The three men, known as the "Harlem Park Three," were arrested on Thanksgiving Day 1983 when they were just 16 years old. They were charged with the murder of 14-year-old DeWitt Duckett, who was allegedly killed for his jacket while walking to school. Despite maintaining their innocence, Chestnut, Watkins, and Stewart were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.

However, their innocence was eventually proven decades later when Chestnut filed a public records request and discovered new evidence that had been withheld from their attorneys during trial. This evidence, which included eyewitness accounts and physical evidence pointing to a different suspect, was ignored by investigators who shaped the evidence to implicate the three men. The suit filed by Chestnut, Watkins, and Stewart alleged that detectives had a pattern of coercing witnesses, not just in their case but in others as well.

The breakthrough in their case came when a judge granted the writ of actual innocence, jointly filed by the plaintiffs and the state of Maryland, leading to their immediate release on November 25, 2019. Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby publicly acknowledged the intentional concealment and misrepresentation of exculpatory evidence, apologizing to the men upon their release and vowing to work for reforms to prevent such wrongful convictions in the future.

The $48 million settlement will see each of the three men receive $14.9 million, with the remaining $3.3 million covering legal fees. Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, in a statement read at the meeting, expressed that settlements like this one "speak to gross injustices" committed against residents and emphasized the need to right the wrongs of the city's history. The settlement comes on top of the $8.7 million approved by the Maryland Board of Public Works in March 2020 to compensate the three men.

The case of the Harlem Park Three sheds light on the systemic issues within the broader justice system, including prosecutorial misconduct and coercive tactics used by law enforcement. It highlights the need for continued efforts to reform the system and prevent wrongful convictions. The Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project, a legal aid group that assisted in proving the men's innocence, stated on Facebook that no amount of money can make up for the 36 years they lost in prison.

The settlement serves as a significant step towards righting the injustices faced by the three men and their families, but it also serves as a reminder of the work that still needs to be done to ensure a fair and just criminal justice system for all.