Annapolis, Maryland

A Maryland man who was wrongly imprisoned for 32 years, including a decade on death row, for two killings he did not commit is suing former law enforcement officials in a lawsuit announced Thursday, though four of the five people named as defendants are deceased.

John Huffington was pardoned by then-Gov. Larry Hogan in January 2023. Hogan cited prosecutorial misconduct in granting a full innocence pardon to Huffington in connection with a 1981 double slaying in Harford County. A Maryland board approved $2.9 million in compensation for Huffington later that year during Gov. Wes Moore’s administration.

Huffington said in a statement Thursday that “it took many, many painful years, but the truth eventually came out.” Just 18 at the time of his arrest, he said neither of his parents ever got to see and understand that his name had been cleared and he was set free.