Lawmakers seeking attorney investigation referrals in wrongful conviction cases with House bill

MARYLAND – According to the National Innocence Project, more than 70% of wrongful convictions in Maryland are blamed on official misconduct.

Maryland lawmakers are looking to address that with House Bill 249. “This bill asks that when taxpayers pay money to someone because they were wrongfully imprisoned when they were innocent, that we simply notify professional boards of the lawyers, judges, and police who are involved in that case, and send them the basic case files,” said bill sponsor Delegate David Moon.

If the bill passes, the names of prosecutors and defense attorneys involved in wrongful convictions would be automatically sent to Maryland’s Attorney Grievance Commission for a potential ethics investigation. “There’s nothing to stop that kind of conduct from happening, and continuing to happen and cost lives, unless we start looking for measures of accountability, and unless we start trying to learn form those mistakes,” said Executive Director of Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project, Shawn Armbrust.

Del. Moon says the bill would not only help the wrongfully convicted, but also potentially save a lot of taxpayer dollars. “Right now what we do is we pay the defendants money. And these are extraordinary cases, right? There are only a few dozen. We pay them money now. Taxpayers are showing out millions of dollars to these cases. We say ‘Oops’, and then we move along,” he said.

In a Judiciary Committee hearing, other lawmakers raised concerns about who would be paying for the effort. Del. Moon says since the bill simply requires the sending of documents, there would be no fiscal note. Other concerns from fellow lawmakers included what to do about attorneys accused of old cases involving misconduct who may have passed away or retired. Del. Moon says there could be the potential of disbarring attorneys in retirement, if they are found guilty of misconduct.

The bill is now on to a second reading.