T. Greg Hall Finally Fully Exonerated – Justice Served After 31 Years

Baltimore City, MD (April 18, 2023) – Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project (MAIP) client T. Greg Hall was fully exonerated today when the Baltimore City State’s Attorney dropped murder charges against him after a March decision by the Baltimore City Circuit Court to grant T.’s Petition for a Writ of Actual Innocence and vacate his 1992 murder conviction. T. had been convicted of a 1991 murder based solely on the testimony of two purported eyewitnesses, whom police said were the only two people to witness the crime.

On the night of July 13, 1991, the body of 20-year-old Gerard Dorsey was found in front of 539 Brice Street, near the entrance to an alley connecting Brice Street with Payson Street in Baltimore. He had been shot in the back. Two months later, on September 26, 1991, 28-year-old T. Greg Hall was charged with first-degree murder and use of a handgun to commit a felony.

On April 29, 1992, Hall’s two-day trial began in Baltimore City Circuit Court. The presentation of evidence only took about five hours, with the prosecution calling four witnesses and the defense calling none. The jury acquitted Hall of first-degree murder and convicted him of second-degree murder and use of a handgun in the commission of a felony. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison.

In 2004, Hall wrote to MAIP seeking help writing that “I always hear about DNA testing helping out prisoners, but what about prisoners like me that DNA can’t help.” The case against T. was weak, and even the victim’s brother thought T. was innocent. MAIP, then an organization with only one staff person, therefore began investigating his case in 2005.

After years of effort and the involvement of multiple lawyers and investigators, the tide began to turn. When MAIP’s first staff attorney obtained the police file, it became clear that the state’s case was even weaker than it had appeared. There actually had been multiple eyewitnesses to the crime – one of whom emphatically said it was not T., and two of whom gave a description that did not match T. Other undisclosed witnesses also told police about an alternative suspect who had a motive to commit the crime and whose description matched the description provided by the other withheld eyewitnesses.

Hall was released on parole but wanted to fully prove his innocence. In March 2023, he got his chance, presenting evidence and witnesses to support his Petition for a Writ of Actual Innocence at a hearing in Baltimore Circuit Court with MAIP Staff Attorney Maggie Abernethy, former MAIP Board Chair Barry Pollack of Harris St. Laurent & Wechsler, and Rey Watson of Kramer Levin. On March 15, 2023, the court granted the Writ and set the stage for today’s full exoneration.

“This is a tremendous victory for Mr. Hall but also a stark reminder of how easily and quickly our courts can convict the wrong person – and how long it can take to undo those mistakes,” said Shawn Armbrust, Executive Director of MAIP. “I hope cases like Mr. Hall’s will cause police and prosecutors to look more critically at their own investigations.”