Guilty, and spending 32 years behind bars.  Maryland resident John Huffington was convicted of a double homicide that happened in May of 1981. The death of Diane Becker, 21, and Joseph Hudson Jr, 30, was linked to Huffington. “This was a drug deal gone wrong,” says English teacher Mrs. Carla Harward, who knew Huffington as a kid.

     Huffington, who at just 18 years old, was handed the death penalty on charges of “first-degree murder, burglary, robbery, and illegal use of  weapon,” says The National Registry of Exonerations.

    “His sentence was later commuted to life in prison after the state of Maryland changed the rulings on death penalty cases,” says Harward.

     “Our families grew up in the same neighborhood in Churchville, went to the same church, went to the same high school (Bel Air High School), and vacationed together with our families,” says Harward.

    During high school, Huffington, “became friends with a group that were making very poor decisions and were involved in drugs. [He]got himself involved in drug dealing and dropped out of school,” says Harward. “[Huffington] was not the best student, and he was a bit of a troublemaker in school. He didn’t hang around the best people in school as well.”

     When Harward found out about the murders, she, “was literally shocked as was my entire family, as I couldn’t believe [he]would murder someone, let alone two people. The way the media was portraying him was not at all the person that I knew.” 

     Throughout his imprisonment, Huffington claimed that he was innocent. In November of 1982, Huffington was re-tried but was again convicted of “two counts of felony murder, as well as robbery, burglary, and weapons charges. He was again sentenced to death,” says The National Registry of Exonerations. 

     In 1985, complaints had come forth about the tampering of evidence in a multitude of court cases. This led to questions about the evidence that was presented during Huffington’s trial. In October 2021, District Attorney Joseph Cassilly, brother to Harford County Executive Bob Cassilly, was one of prosecutors in Huffington’s trial who was under suspicion. In 2021, Cassilly was, “disbarred for the illegal tampering of evidence that would have cleared [Huffington] of the murders,” says Harward. 

     On Jan. 13, 2023, after 32 years behind bars, Governor Larry Hogan granted Huffington a full pardon, after his third and final trial finally proved his innocence. On July 5, 2023, the Maryland Board of Public Works granted Huffington 2.9 million dollars of compensation money for his wrongful conviction. 

      Upon his release, Huffington decided to write a book about his imprisonment which he named Innocent: An Obscene Miscarriage of Justice. “Upon his release, he was living in Baltimore, and he had told me that he was writing a book about his experience in prison and what really happened the night of the murders and that all along he was framed and was innocent of the murders,” Harward says. 

     Huffington’s story didn’t end at his release from prison and his new book. Instead, Huffington, “has been an advocate for wrongful convictions and helping out the Baltimore community,” says Harward. “He is on many high-level organizations as well as having the most positive, non-resentful attitude towards what happened to him.”

     Haward said, “this is a testament to his overall amazing character, and he has been a pivotal member of his community since his release from prison. This is an incredible story of one man’s fight to clear his name for something he did not do.”