ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Gov. Larry Hogan has directed counsel to present compensation agreements for five men who were wrongly imprisoned to the Board of Publics later this month.
Hogan said Wednesday that board counsel will bring the agreements to the board's next meeting on Oct. 30.
The five men spent a combined 120 years in prison. Their attorneys are seeking $12 million in compensation.
Hogan and the board's other two members, Treasurer Nancy Kopp and Comptroller Peter Franchot, have expressed agreement that the men should be compensated.
Maryland judges and prosecutors have found that petitioners Jerome Johnson, Lamar Johnson, Walter Lomax, Clarence Shipley and Hubert James Williams are innocent, and some petitions filed by attorneys have been pending without a response for over a year.
