Baltimore officials to appeal $15M award in wrongful conviction lawsuit
Baltimore City Solicitor Andre Davis said Wednesday he would appeal a $15 million federal jury award to Sabein Burgess — the Baltimore man who alleged homicide detectives wrongfully pinned a murder on him, causing him to spend two decades in prison.
“There will be an appeal, without question,” Davis said. “We really thought we had a very strong case on the facts and the law.”
Burgess, 47, was charged with murdering his girlfriend in 1994 and sentenced to life plus 20 years in prison. He was freed in 2015 after new evidence emerged and he was granted a new trial. Prosecutors then dropped charges against him.
Burgess’ attorneys have argued that two now-retired Baltimore homicide detectives — Gerald Goldstein and Steven Lehman — pinned the murder on him without looking into credible alternatives. The detectives’ actions, they argued, led to Burgess’ spending two decades in prison, including a year served in solitary confinement.
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