US Court vindicated and released three men in Maryland, USA after 36 years in prison for murdering a young man.

Alfred Chestnut, Ransom Watkins and Andrew Stewart in Maryland, US were vindicated by the court and prosecutors removed the charges on November 25. All three, who were youths when convicted in 1984, were released after the court cleared their sentences.

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From left: Alfred Chestnut, Andrew Stewart and Ransom Watkins take pictures after being released from baltimore prison, Maryland, USA on November 25 Photo: AFP

"On behalf of the criminal justice system, and although I know this doesn't make much sense, I'm still very sorry," judge Charles Peters told three injustice prisoners.

Chestnut, Watkins and Stewart were arrested in November 1983 on charges of killing DeWitt Duckett, 14. Duckett was knocked off his basketball jacket and shot several times in the neck on a walk to a Baltimore high school.

The case was reviewed earlier this year by Marilyn Mosby, a Baltimore-state federal attorney, after Chestnut sent a letter to the Integrity Accident Unit, attaching an alibi that he discovered last year.

Prosecutors today cite police reports that many witnesses said the suspect opened fire about 18 years old at the time of the crime. A student found the suspect running away from the scene and throwing a gun when police arrived at Harlem Park High School, but officials at the time focused on investigating the trio of Chestnut, Watkins and Stewart. The new suspect was arrested and killed in 2002.

An assistant prosecutor working on the case told the court in 1984 that the state of Maryland had not raised any suspicions about the trio's crimes. While police records contained statements regarding the 18-year-old suspect, at the same time, the witnesses did not confirm the image of the trio.

A judge sealed the documents, but Chestnut obtained them through a public record request last year.

"Everyone involved in the case, including officials, police, prosecutors, juries, media and the community hastily judged and allowed their narrow view to obscure the issues. clear issues with concrete evidence, "said Shawn Armbrust, executive director of the Minh-Mid-Atlantic Project, Watkins representative.

"This case should be a lesson for those who seek quick answers that can lead to tragic outcomes," he added.