Wrongfully convicted man sues Baltimore police, claims witness was coerced

A Baltimore man who spent 19 years in prison for an attempted murder he did not commit is suing the city’s police department in federal court for alleged due process violations.

The plaintiff, Melvin Thomas, claims that police officers coerced the shooting victim into identifying him as the shooter and suppressed contradictory claims from the victim and another witness.

Thomas was formally exonerated in 2020, after the Conviction Integrity Unit of the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office agreed the evidence no longer supported his conviction. The shooting victim recanted his identification of Thomas after he said he bumped into the real shooter at a flea market in South Baltimore, according to reports from the time.

This week’s lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, alleges that the victim’s initial identification of Thomas was not a mistake, but the result of pressure from Baltimore police.

The conviction stemmed from a shooting outside a bar in the 100 block of North Glover Street on the night of Feb. 26, 2001. The victim, who had been inside the bar, stepped outside to use his cellphone when he was confronted by a man with a gun and shot.

The victim survived the shooting and was able to identify one of the two men he saw outside the bar, who he said handed the gun to the shooter, according to the complaint. The victim said he did not know the man who carried out the shooting, and the man who had handed over the gun denied knowing the shooter’s name.

During the subsequent investigation, police showed photo arrays to the victim and to a woman who had also seen the shooter. The photo arrays included a picture of Thomas, according to the lawsuit.

The woman refused to identify anyone in the photo array, the complaint alleges, and specifically told officers why the image of Thomas did not match the man she had seen. Police also showed the arrays to the victim, who did not select the image of Thomas.

“In response, BPD employees presented other photospreads with Mr. Thomas’ photograph in them. During the presentation of the subsequent photospreads to (the victim), the police became aggressive with (the victim), banging their finger on the table, while pointing at the picture of Mr. Thomas and insisting (the victim) pick a photograph falsely identifying Mr. Thomas as being his shooter,” wrote Booth M. Ripke, Thomas’s lawyer.

The officers persisted, according to the lawsuit, showing up at the victim’s house and taking him to the police station. The complaint claims the officers told the victim that they had completed their investigation and knew that Thomas was the shooter, but they needed the victim to sign off on the photograph of Thomas.

The victim ultimately identified Thomas, and his testimony was the only link tying Thomas to the shooting, according to the complaint. Thomas maintained his innocence but was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to 65 years in prison.

Thomas served 19 years before his case was taken up by the Conviction Integrity Unit. According to the lawsuit, he witnessed murders and was stabbed during his time in prison.

The seven-count lawsuit brings federal and state claims including malicious prosecution and violations of due process. The Baltimore Police Department did not respond to a request for comment. Ripke, Thomas’s lawyer, also did not respond to a request for comment.

In 2021, Thomas also received $1.6 million in compensation from the state for the time he wrongfully spent in prison.