Police ask Supreme Court to overturn $2.3 million judgment

BALTIMORE – Three Baltimore police officers have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their appeal of a $2.3 million judgment for maliciously prosecuting a homeless man as a serial rapist.

The Baltimore Sun reported Tuesday that Marlow Humbert was held for 14 months, mostly in solitary confinement, after being arrested as the “Charles Village rapist” following two sexual assaults in 2008. Humbert sued, saying detectives failed to tell prosecutors that DNA results exonerated him.

U.S. District Judge William Quarles Jr. reversed a 2015 jury award, saying the detectives lacked “actual malice” and were entitled to immunity. In August, three federal judges in Virginia reinstated the award.

Humbert’s attorney, Charles Edwards, says the Supreme Court accepts about 1 per cent of such petitions.

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Information from: The Baltimore Sun, http://www.baltimoresun.com