Maryland
State OKs more than $3 million for a man wrongly imprisoned for murder for three decades
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland officials on Wednesday approved more than $3 million in compensation for a Baltimore man who spent 31 years in prison on a wrongful murder conviction.
Gov. Wes Moore apologized to Gary Washington during a Board of Public Works meeting where the compensation was approved.
“On the behalf of the entire state, I’m sorry for the failure of the justice system,” Moore said, adding that while no amount can make up for the injustice, he prayed the state could provide compensation “in a way that your family deserves.”
Washington was a 25-year-old new father when he was convicted in 1987 of first-degree murder and a gun crime in the fatal shooting of Faheem Ali the year before.
No physical evidence linked him to murder, according to Moore, and multiple witnesses said that he was not the shooter. Also, multiple people accounted for his whereabouts at the exact time of the crime, Moore said.
“The prosecution’s key witness for the trial, who was then 12 years old, later recanted his identification of Mr. Washington as the murderer, saying that he was manipulated by the police and sent Mr. Washington to prison,” the Democratic governor said.
Washington, now 63, was released in October 2018, months after his convictions were vacated in the Baltimore City Circuit Court. In January 2019, the Baltimore state’s attorney’s office dismissed the charges.
An administrative law judge found that under state law, Washington is entitled to $94,991, or the current median household income in Maryland, for each of the 31 years he was wrongly incarcerated.
In addition to receiving nearly $3 million for erroneous confinement, he will get more than $89,000 to resolve housing benefit claims.
Arkansas
26 Republican AGs sue to block rule requiring background checks on buyers at gun shows
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Twenty-six Republican attorneys general filed lawsuits Wednesday challenging a new Biden administration rule requiring firearms dealers across the United States to run background checks on buyers at gun shows and other places outside brick-and-mortar stores.
The lawsuits filed in federal court in Arkansas, Florida and Texas are seeking to block enforcement of the rule announced last month, which aims to close a loophole that has allowed tens of thousands of guns to be sold every year by unlicensed dealers who do not perform background checks to ensure the potential buyer is not legally prohibited from having a firearm.
The lawsuit argues the new rule violates the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and that Democratic President Joe Biden doesn’t have the authority to implement it.
“Congress has never passed into law the ATF’s dramatic new expansion of firearms dealer license requirements, and President Biden cannot unilaterally impose them,” Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin said in a statement. “This lawsuit is just the latest instance of my colleagues in other states and me having to remind the President that he must follow the law.”
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Department of Justice declined to comment on the lawsuit. Biden administration officials have said they are confident the rule, which drew more than 380,000 public comments, would withstand lawsuits.
As the 2024 presidential campaign heats up, the lawsuit and potential court battle to follow could animate both sides — GOP voters who want fewer restrictions on guns and Democrats who want more restrictions on types of firearms and access to them.
Biden has made curtailing gun violence a major part of his administration and reelection campaign as the nation struggles with ever-increasing mass shootings and other killings. He created the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, overseen by Vice President Kamala Harris, and has urged Congress to ban so-called assault weapons — a political term to describe a group of high-powered guns or semi-automatic long rifles, like an AR-15, that can fire 30 rounds fast without reloading. Such a ban was something Democrats shied from even just a few years ago.
Gun control advocates have long pushed for closing the so-called gun show loophole and have praised the new rule on background checks.
“If we don’t update our national system by closing these loopholes, there is no telling how many more Americans we will lose to gun violence,” said Kris Brown, president of the gun control group Brady. “Brady will do everything in our power to defend this rule because we know it brings us closer to a future free from gun violence.”
West Virginia
While an inmate, man claimed to be operating a food truck to get a pandemic loan
WHEELING, W.Va. (AP) — A West Virginia man who obtained a government loan during the pandemic after falsely claiming he was operating a food truck despite being an inmate at the time has been sentenced to more than 13 years in prison, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Anton Demetrius Matthews, previously convicted of wire fraud, cocaine trafficking and a supervised release violation, was ordered in federal court in Wheeling to pay $55,000 in restitution and a money judgment of $50,000, prosecutors said.
Matthews, 40, of Wheeling, obtained nearly $50,000 in federal pandemic relief loans after misrepresenting his income and occupation while he was incarcerated, U.S. Attorney William Ihlenfeld said in a statement.
The U.S. government loans were granted to businesses that were struggling during the coronavirus pandemic.
Matthews submitted a loan application in which he claimed to have established a food truck business in Wheeling in January 2019. He was in federal prison from November 2016 until October 2020. After his release from prison, Matthews sold cocaine from a neighborhood bar on Wheeling Island, the statement said.
“We have noticed an uptick in drug traffickers who are also engaging in white collar crime, committing acts such as COVID fraud or income tax fraud,” Ihlenfeld said. “Mr. Matthews is a good example of this trend, and he will pay a steep price for committing two serious, but very different, crimes.”
State OKs more than $3 million for a man wrongly imprisoned for murder for three decades
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland officials on Wednesday approved more than $3 million in compensation for a Baltimore man who spent 31 years in prison on a wrongful murder conviction.
Gov. Wes Moore apologized to Gary Washington during a Board of Public Works meeting where the compensation was approved.
“On the behalf of the entire state, I’m sorry for the failure of the justice system,” Moore said, adding that while no amount can make up for the injustice, he prayed the state could provide compensation “in a way that your family deserves.”
Washington was a 25-year-old new father when he was convicted in 1987 of first-degree murder and a gun crime in the fatal shooting of Faheem Ali the year before.
No physical evidence linked him to murder, according to Moore, and multiple witnesses said that he was not the shooter. Also, multiple people accounted for his whereabouts at the exact time of the crime, Moore said.
“The prosecution’s key witness for the trial, who was then 12 years old, later recanted his identification of Mr. Washington as the murderer, saying that he was manipulated by the police and sent Mr. Washington to prison,” the Democratic governor said.
Washington, now 63, was released in October 2018, months after his convictions were vacated in the Baltimore City Circuit Court. In January 2019, the Baltimore state’s attorney’s office dismissed the charges.
An administrative law judge found that under state law, Washington is entitled to $94,991, or the current median household income in Maryland, for each of the 31 years he was wrongly incarcerated.
In addition to receiving nearly $3 million for erroneous confinement, he will get more than $89,000 to resolve housing benefit claims.
Arkansas
26 Republican AGs sue to block rule requiring background checks on buyers at gun shows
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Twenty-six Republican attorneys general filed lawsuits Wednesday challenging a new Biden administration rule requiring firearms dealers across the United States to run background checks on buyers at gun shows and other places outside brick-and-mortar stores.
The lawsuits filed in federal court in Arkansas, Florida and Texas are seeking to block enforcement of the rule announced last month, which aims to close a loophole that has allowed tens of thousands of guns to be sold every year by unlicensed dealers who do not perform background checks to ensure the potential buyer is not legally prohibited from having a firearm.
The lawsuit argues the new rule violates the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and that Democratic President Joe Biden doesn’t have the authority to implement it.
“Congress has never passed into law the ATF’s dramatic new expansion of firearms dealer license requirements, and President Biden cannot unilaterally impose them,” Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin said in a statement. “This lawsuit is just the latest instance of my colleagues in other states and me having to remind the President that he must follow the law.”
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Department of Justice declined to comment on the lawsuit. Biden administration officials have said they are confident the rule, which drew more than 380,000 public comments, would withstand lawsuits.
As the 2024 presidential campaign heats up, the lawsuit and potential court battle to follow could animate both sides — GOP voters who want fewer restrictions on guns and Democrats who want more restrictions on types of firearms and access to them.
Biden has made curtailing gun violence a major part of his administration and reelection campaign as the nation struggles with ever-increasing mass shootings and other killings. He created the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, overseen by Vice President Kamala Harris, and has urged Congress to ban so-called assault weapons — a political term to describe a group of high-powered guns or semi-automatic long rifles, like an AR-15, that can fire 30 rounds fast without reloading. Such a ban was something Democrats shied from even just a few years ago.
Gun control advocates have long pushed for closing the so-called gun show loophole and have praised the new rule on background checks.
“If we don’t update our national system by closing these loopholes, there is no telling how many more Americans we will lose to gun violence,” said Kris Brown, president of the gun control group Brady. “Brady will do everything in our power to defend this rule because we know it brings us closer to a future free from gun violence.”
West Virginia
While an inmate, man claimed to be operating a food truck to get a pandemic loan
WHEELING, W.Va. (AP) — A West Virginia man who obtained a government loan during the pandemic after falsely claiming he was operating a food truck despite being an inmate at the time has been sentenced to more than 13 years in prison, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Anton Demetrius Matthews, previously convicted of wire fraud, cocaine trafficking and a supervised release violation, was ordered in federal court in Wheeling to pay $55,000 in restitution and a money judgment of $50,000, prosecutors said.
Matthews, 40, of Wheeling, obtained nearly $50,000 in federal pandemic relief loans after misrepresenting his income and occupation while he was incarcerated, U.S. Attorney William Ihlenfeld said in a statement.
The U.S. government loans were granted to businesses that were struggling during the coronavirus pandemic.
Matthews submitted a loan application in which he claimed to have established a food truck business in Wheeling in January 2019. He was in federal prison from November 2016 until October 2020. After his release from prison, Matthews sold cocaine from a neighborhood bar on Wheeling Island, the statement said.
“We have noticed an uptick in drug traffickers who are also engaging in white collar crime, committing acts such as COVID fraud or income tax fraud,” Ihlenfeld said. “Mr. Matthews is a good example of this trend, and he will pay a steep price for committing two serious, but very different, crimes.”
