Retired detective seeks reversal of $15M wrongful-conviction verdict

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A retired Baltimore Police Department detective is asking a federal appeals court to vacate a $15 million verdict awarded to a wrongfully incarcerated man who claimed the detective ignored and withheld exculpatory evidence.

Sabein Burgess spent nearly two decades in prison after being convicted in 1995 of killing his girlfriend, Michelle Dyson. He was sentenced to life plus 20 years in prison. He was released in 2015 after being exonerated.

A federal jury in 2017 awarded Burgess $15 million and found Detective Gerald Goldstein, now retired, liable for the amount. Goldstein filed motions for a directed judgment, arguing that the verdict was not supported by the evidence, and for a new trial. Both motions were denied.

On Wednesday, Baltimore City Solicitor Andre M. Davis argued before the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the trial judge was wrong to deny those motions and said that certain evidentiary decisions prejudiced Goldstein during the trial.

“We think the jury ruled on sympathy and conjecture because of the logical gaps in the case,” Davis said.

In filings with the 4th Circuit, Goldstein suggested the verdict was possibly “the product of general anti-police sentiment in Baltimore in the wake of multiple highly-publicized police scandals” and called Burgess’ attorneys a “rhetorically-gifted team” that was able to sway the jury.

Burgess’ lawyer, Jon Loevy, told the appellate panel he did not argue any issues that the judge had barred him from raising and said the jury was properly instructed.

Dyson was fatally shot on Oct. 5, 1994, in the basement of her home. Police found Burgess in the basement with Dyson’s blood on his hands, according to court documents. Goldstein was assigned to investigate and Burgess was arrested approximately one month later.

At the civil trial, Burgess accused Goldstein of pinning the crime on him without pursuing other leads. Burgess also said Goldstein withheld exculpatory evidence and fabricated a police report.

Arguments on appeal focused in part on FBI notes admitted into evidence that suggested Dyson’s murder was drug-related and identified a group of suspects. Burgess claimed Goldstein did not document information he received from the FBI suggesting other suspects.

Goldstein objected to the notes as hearsay, but the court allowed them into evidence.

“We don’t know how the jury decided this case, but what we do know for certain is there were at least two bases for the jury to decide this case, which arose explicitly, directly and, again, inexplicably from the District Court’s erroneous admission of evidence and refusal to instruct,” Davis said.

Goldstein also objected to references at trial that he knew about reports saying the crime had been committed by someone known as “Little Man.”

“This case, this trial, was never supposed to be about who killed Michelle Dyson,” Davis said. “That was not supposed to be the issue in this case. The issue in this case was, of course, did Detective Goldstein, acting in bad faith, willfully withhold from the prosecutor exculpatory information which was not available to the defense.”

Goldstein also denied having withheld notes that said one of Dyson’s children, 6-year-old Brian Rainey, had witnessed people entering the home shortly before Dyson was murdered.

Loevy, of Loevy & Loevy in Chicago, said the police report noted that all four of Dyson’s children slept through the incident, but Rainey came forward years later as an adult to say that Burgess was not among the group.

“By misleading the prosecution and the defense by saying Brian wasn’t a witness, he slept through it, they concealed exculpatory information because when Brian was asked years later, he said, ‘I did see it and it wasn’t my mother’s boyfriend,'” Loevy said.

The three-judge panel consisted of judges Henry F. Floyd, Stephanie D. Thacker and A. Marvin Quattlebaum Jr.

The case is Sabein Burgess v. Gerald Alan Goldstein, No. 18-1352.