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Baltimore State's Attorney Ivan Bates. (The Daily Record/ File Photo)
Baltimore man found guilty of faking ballistics report in exoneration attempt
Key takeaways:
- Brandon Grimes convicted of fraud and obstruction of justice
- Prosecutors say he fabricated ballistics report to challenge murder conviction
- He received additional 10-year sentence after verdict
- State’s Attorney Ivan Bates criticized false exoneration attempts
A Baltimore jury found a 41-year-old guilty of fraud and obstruction of justice Friday after prosecutors accused him of fabricating a ballistics report in an attempt to have his murder conviction overturned.
Brandon Grimes, who was already serving a sentence of life without parole plus 18 years for his conviction in the 2007 killing of a Baltimore Police officer, received an additional 10-year sentence after the verdict in Baltimore City Circuit Court.
Grimes had filed a petition for a writ of actual innocence claiming that a prosecutor had turned over newly discovered evidence, including a ballistics report that he wrote the assistant state’s attorney “claimed she found in some box somewhere.” The documents say both Grimes and the detective, Troy Lamont Chesley Sr., were wounded by a bullet from the same weapon.
The Baltimore state’s attorney’s office’s Conviction Integrity Unit flagged the ballistics report as fake, and a further investigation found that Grimes “discussed his scheme with several individuals in recorded phone calls made from prison,” according to a news release from city prosecutors.
Grimes had attempted to secure both his own release from prison and over $1.4 million in compensation for his incarceration, Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates’ office said.
“The attempts made by the Defendant to falsely exonerate himself and receive financial benefits not only put the accreditation of our world-class crime lab at risk, but also undermine every real petition of actual innocence that comes forward from wrongfully convicted individuals,” Bates said in a statement after the three-day trial concluded.
The Office of the Public Defender did not immediately return a request for comment. Grimes was represented at last week’s trial by assistant public defenders Brandon Thornton and Matthew Connell.
The prosecution followed multiple instances of fabricated exculpatory evidence being discovered by attorneys litigating wrongful conviction cases in federal court. Bates has said that his office’s Conviction Integrity Unit has since changed its policies and procedures for reviewing cases.
