Man Pardoned After Sitting On Death Row For Harford County Murders Speaks Out

HARFORD COUNTY, MD — A Harford County man convicted of two murders at age 18 recently was pardoned by Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan before he left office. John Huffington spent 32 years in prison, 10 of those years on death row.

Walter Lomax, who also was pardoned, served 39 years in prison.

Huffington was convicted in 1981 on two counts of first-degree murder in Caroline County in the deaths of Diana Becker and Joe Hudson in Abingdon, and was sentenced to death. His sentence was reversed on appeal in 1982 and Huffington was granted a new trial that was transferred to Frederick County courts. But that trial ended in a conviction in 1982 on murder, robbery and gun charges. He was sentenced to death plus prison time.

Prosecutors argued the pair was murdered in a cocaine deal gone bad, Patch reported. Court filings in the case obtained by Capital News Service indicated that Huffington and another man purchased cocaine from Hudson, then took him to a farmhouse near Wheel Road, where they said there was another buyer; then they shot Hudson in the back of the head multiple times and took his drugs.

Next, Huffington and his accomplice allegedly went to his mobile home near Abingdon and stabbed the victim's girlfriend, Becker, before taking her cocaine while her 4-year-old was asleep in the next room.

Much of the court cases hinged on the testimony of the Deno Kanaras, who was paroled in 2008 for the murders and was said to have been in on the drug scheming with Huffington, The Washington Post reported.

Huffington maintained his innocence and said that although he had been with Kanaras and the victims earlier, he went to bed, and a fingerprint on a vodka bottle in Becker's trailer was from a prior visit to the mobile home, according to The Post, which reported Huffington spent more than $1 million in legal fees over the years contesting his case.

His lawyers blamed the trial's outcome on retired former Harford County State's Attorney Joseph Cassilly, WMAR reported. In October of 1999, it was shown that an FBI agent who testified against Huffington at trial was unqualified.

In April 2013, DNA analysis of two hairs recovered from the crime scene did not match Huffington. In 2017, he entered an Alford plea, according to WBAL-TV, for which he was sentenced to 32 years, one month and 24 days of time served and 24 days of unsupervised probation.

According to Huffington's attorneys, Casilly knew the FBI agent wasn't qualified to testify but withheld that from the defense during trial. According to WMAR, Huffington's team later asked for an additional analysis of the hair but Casilly's office denied the request and, according to WMAR, tried to destroy the hair.

In 2021, Maryland's highest court disbarred Casilly in Huffington's case for prosecutorial misconduct; some of the questionable conduct occurred during Huffington's trials.

While the pardons were primarily symbolic since both men were released years ago, the men are appreciative. Huffington said during a news conference that he was overwhelmed after the announcement was made. He noted that his pardon came through on Friday the 13th, “and it was Friday the 13th in 1981 that I was wrongfully convicted by a jury.”

“Obviously I am overwhelmed,” Huffington said in a Post story, “extremely grateful, still trying to process everything, which I haven’t quite done yet. This has been a 42-year journey.”

In fact, his friends treated Huffington to a surprise party to celebrate the governor's pardon.

"I wouldn't be here today and I wouldn't be the man I am without these incredible friends being a part of my life," he tweeted.