… Their combined 108 years behind bars set a record for the longest wrongful incarceration for a single crime in U.S. history, their attorneys said at the time.

They vowed to hold the city accountable.

In 2020, the men were awarded $8.7 million – $2.9 million each – by the Maryland Board of Public Works. But they also sued Baltimore Police, alleging constitutional violations by former detectives Donald Kincaid, John Barrick and Bryn Joyce. …

… City prosecutors under then-State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, as well as two nonprofit groups, recently re-examined the case and concluded that Kincaid had pressured the students who identified Chestnut, Stewart and Watkins as the killers.

They presented evidence that four witnesses had recanted and that police withheld exculpatory evidence, including interviews with other students who identified the killer as another man, who died in 2002.

On November 25, 2019, Circuit Court Judge Charles Peters formally wiped out their convictions.

“On behalf of the criminal justice system,” Peters said at the time, “and I’m sure this means very little to you gentlemen, I’m going to apologize.” …