Baltimore approves $14M settlement for man wrongfully convicted in 1986 killing

Baltimore’s spending board on Wednesday signed off on a $14 million settlement for a man who was wrongfully convicted and spent decades in prison in the deadly shooting of a 17-year-old in 1986.

Members of the Baltimore Board of Estimates voted to resolve a civil rights lawsuit that Gary Washington filed in 2019 in U.S. District Court in Baltimore against the Baltimore Police Department and the officers involved in his case.

Baltimore City Council President Zeke Cohen described the situation as a “particularly painful case for the city.”

“Mr. Washington lost decades of his life to a conviction that should never have happened,” Cohen said. “This settlement is both an acknowledgement of that profound injustice, and our city’s responsibility to provide him the means to move forward, as well as a reminder that oversight of our law enforcement agencies matters.”

Washington, now 64, of Baltimore, was found guilty of first-degree murder and use of a handgun during the commission of a crime of violence in the death of Faheem “Bobo” Ali in Barclay on Dec. 27, 1986.

A 12-year-old named Otis Robinson implicated Washington in the killing but later recanted his testimony and alleged that detectives had threatened him.

In 2018, Baltimore Circuit Judge Charles J. Peters granted a petition for writ of actual innocence and awarded Washington a new trial. Prosecutors in 2019 dropped the charges.

Administrative Law Judge Ann C. Kehinde in 2024 ruled that Washington was erroneously convicted, sentenced and incarcerated in the killing. He has always maintained his innocence.

The Maryland Board of Public Works then approved more than $2.98 million in compensation to Washington as well as housing benefits.

Gov. Wes Moore apologized to Washington for the failure of the criminal legal system.

In a statement, Renee Spence, one of Washington’s attorneys, noted that detectives arrested her client almost 39 years to the day.

“While this settlement cannot make up for the more than three decades Mr. Washington spent wrongfully imprisoned and falsely branded a murderer, it is an important end to a nearly 40 year legal battle to clear his name and hold these officers accountable,” Spence said.

The city “defended the lawsuit vigorously for several years,” Baltimore Chief Solicitor Justin Conroy said.

Because of the age of the detectives and the unreliability of the key witness, Conroy said, the city felt that it was best to settle the case before trial.

Conroy said that “we negotiated pretty aggressively and got a settlement value we think is the best deal for the city.”

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said the Police Department has come a long way with hiring, training and implementing checks and balances.

“We know that 2026 is not 1986,” Scott said. “We still have a long way to go. We’re going to continue to do that, and I think that this is another example — especially for the solicitor and myself — of why the work of the consent decree is so important.”

The settlement, he said, provides a lesson about “what can happen, when we don’t, or didn’t, do things the right way.”