Death-Row Exoneree Kirk Bloodsworth Receives Supplemental Compensation Under New Maryland Wrongful Imprisonment Statute

Kirk Bloodsworth, the first for­mer death-row pris­on­er to have been exon­er­at­ed by DNA test­ing, has become the first per­son to receive sup­ple­men­tal com­pen­sa­tion under a new Maryland wrong­ful imprisonment statute. 

Bloodsworth, who was wrong­ful­ly con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death in 1984 on charges that he had raped and mur­dered 9‑year-old Dawn Hamilton, won a new tri­al as a result of pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al mis­con­duct but was wrong­ful­ly con­vict­ed a sec­ond time and sen­tenced to life impris­on­ment. DNA test­ing in 1993 exclud­ed him as the killer and iden­ti­fied anoth­er man who was in prison for anoth­er sex­u­al assault com­mit­ted after he had raped and killed the young girl.

Maryland grant­ed Bloodsworth $300,000 in com­pen­sa­tion in 1994 for his wrong­ful con­vic­tion. A new law passed dur­ing Maryland’s 2021 leg­isla­tive ses­sion amend­ed the state’s com­pen­sa­tion law to autho­rize the pay­ment of com­pen­sa­tion for each year of wrong­ful incar­cer­a­tion at a rate equal to the aver­age of the state’s annu­al medi­an income, as cal­cu­lat­ed over the pre­ced­ing five years. The new statute also per­mit­ted exonerees who had received com­pen­sa­tion on or before July 1, 2005 to seek supplemental compensation.

The Maryland Board of Public Works deter­mined that Bloodsworth would be enti­tled to $721,237.40 in com­pen­sa­tion under the new for­mu­la. Subtracting the pri­or pay­ment Bloodsworth received in 1994, an admin­is­tra­tive law judge on October 6, 2021 approved pay­ment of $421,237.40 in supplemental compensation.