Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot is proposing that state officials finalize a plan to compensate five men who were wrongfully imprisoned.
At Wednesday’s Board of Public Works meeting, Franchot suggested a final date of Oct. 16. Treasurer Nancy Kopp, who also sits on the board, agreed.
“I think we can no longer wait or ask these five innocent, wrongfully convicted Marylanders to wait any longer for a fair and compassionate payment,” Franchot said.
Gov. Larry Hogan, who chairs the board, said two weeks ago that the men — who spent a combined 120 years in prison for crimes they did not commit — should be compensated. But he faulted the legislature for not acting on the issue. He had drawn up a proposal to have administrative law judges come up with a process for compensation. At that meeting, Kopp said that the Board of Public Works had the authority to act.
At Wednesday’s meeting, Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford sat in for Hogan, who had just returned from a trip to Australia. A memorandum on the issue was “pretty much ready to go,” Rutherford said, and he expected the issue to be resolved soon.
“It is my hope that by next week, members will have the final details of what the governor’s plan will look like and we’ll have an opportunity to carefully review it,” Franchot said at the meeting.
Rutherford also said that the state is working on finding a treatment bed for one of the men, who is in need of substance abuse treatment.
Hubert James Williams, Jerome Johnson, Lamar Johnson, Walter Lomax and Clarence Shipley have petitioned the board for the compensation.
