In 1981, at the age of eighteen, John N. Huffington was found guilty of a double homicide in Harford County, Maryland. He was given two death sentences plus 21 years in what became known as the Memorial Day Murders.
Maintaining his innocence from day one, John spent 32 years, 2 months, and 28 days in the Maryland Prison System, the first 10 years of his sentence were on death row. John’s conviction was tainted with flimsy, unsubstantiated science and a prosecutor who withheld or tried to destroy evidence. His lost years included stints at Supermax and other sites notorious for corruption and violence. It took more than three decades, two trials, and numerous appeals before DNA evidence in the case finally helped secure John’s release in 2013.
Told in his own words, this powerful true story of an innocent man caught in a flawed justice system is simultaneously heartbreaking and enraging. It’s a challenge to the belief system of ’innocent until proven guilty, ‘ where there is no clear line between justice and the condemned.