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Baltimore Man's Murder Conviction Overturned After 30 Years In Prison

BALTIMORE (WJZ) --  A Baltimore man had his murder conviction vacated Tuesday after 30 years in prison, the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office said.

Paul Madison was convicted for a December 1990 murder in Cherry Hill. Officials said the case against him rested "almost exclusively on the uncorroborated testimony of a jailhouse informant who was promised a deal to testify in exchange for dropping felony narcotics and handgun charges."

Madison's conviction was vacated using a law State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby and her team wrote and pushed for in 2019 called the Vacature Statute. Mosby's office also pushed for the passage of a Jailhouse Informant law in 2020, which placed severe limitations on prosecutorial use of jailhouse informants.

"This conviction rested on outdated and questionable practices that called into question the integrity of the conviction, which is why in the interests of fairness and justice, my Conviction Integrity Unit moved to vacate the conviction," Mosby said." I want to apologize to Mr. Madison and his family on behalf of a flawed criminal justice system that failed him by wrongly taking 30 years of his life.  I wish him all the best going forward."

The SAO said an investigation in cooperation with Innocence Project revealed the violations.

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