At 16, Ransom Watkins was arrested with two other teenagers in the November 1983 shooting of DeWitt Duckett, 14, at Harlem Park Junior High School in Baltimore. All three were convicted and sentenced to life. In 2019, after 36 years in prison, a judge granted them a writ of actual innocence and the State dismissed the charges.
When a Witness Recants, a documentary by Dawn Porter about the case, is to be released on HBO Max on Nov. 17, 2026, after premiering at the Sundance Film Festival in January.1110 It is based on a story by Jennifer Gonnerman in The New Yorker and follows Watkins, Alfred Chestnut and Andrew Stewart, the student witnesses whose testimony convicted them, and former State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby, whose office reopened the case.10
Ransom Watkins was convicted of murder and spent 36 years in prison before a court granted him a writ of actual innocence and vacated the conviction.31 He was tried and exonerated together with Alfred Chestnut and Andrew Stewart; the three have become known as the Harlem Park Three.108 Much of what is known about the original investigation comes from police records released in 2018 and from the three men’s later civil lawsuit, whose claims were never tried; those claims are identified below as allegations.31
On Nov. 18, 1983, DeWitt Duckett, 14, was shot in the neck at Harlem Park Junior High School in West Baltimore after someone demanded his Georgetown jacket, and he died at a hospital about two hours later, according to the federal court’s summary of the case.13
Watkins, Chestnut and Stewart, all 16, were arrested later that November.38 At their 1984 trial, the State’s case rested on four student witnesses, according to the lawsuit’s allegations as summarized by the federal court.1 An assistant prosecutor told the court in 1984 that the State had no reports raising doubts about the defendants’ guilt, the AP reported.3 Chestnut’s mother presented a receipt and a letter to show that the Georgetown jacket he owned had been bought for him.5 The jury convicted all three, and each was sentenced to life in prison for murder and 20 years on the other charges.31
In 2018, Chestnut obtained police records, sealed by a judge, through a public records request.3 According to the State’s Attorney’s Office, the records showed that several witnesses had identified an 18-year-old as the shooter, that one student saw that young man flee and throw away a gun as police arrived, and that trial witnesses had failed to identify the three teenagers in photo lineups.34 After Chestnut wrote to the office’s Conviction Integrity Unit in 2019, it reopened the case with the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project, which represented Watkins.34 The office cited police and prosecutorial misconduct, including coaching and coercion of teenage witnesses.6 The man prosecutors said the witnesses had identified was shot and killed in 2002 and was never charged.31
On Nov. 25, 2019, the Circuit Court for Baltimore City granted a joint petition by the three men and the State’s Attorney’s Office for a writ of actual innocence, vacated the convictions and ordered their release, and the State dismissed all charges.13 Judge Charles Peters told them, “On behalf of the criminal justice system, and I’m sure this means very little to you gentlemen, I’m going to apologize.”3 They were released hours later.4
On March 4, 2020, Maryland’s Board of Public Works voted 3-0 to pay each man about $2.9 million, calculated at $81,868 for each year of confinement.6 Gov. Larry Hogan said “there is no question that they deserve to be justly compensated.”6
On Aug. 13, 2020, the three sued the Baltimore Police Department and three former homicide detectives in federal court, alleging that detectives coerced student witnesses into naming them, fabricated a narrative and hid evidence pointing to another suspect.71 On April 28, 2021, U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett denied motions to dismiss, while stating that the court “makes no finding as to whether the Officer Defendants had probable cause.”1 Lawyers for the detectives denied conducting improper interviews.9 On Oct. 18, 2023, Baltimore’s Board of Estimates unanimously approved a $48 million settlement, about $14.9 million for each man; the city did not admit liability.89 The allegations were never tried.9
Watkins was 16 when he was arrested in November 1983, CBS Baltimore reported.83 No sourced account of his childhood, family or schooling was found in the sources reviewed.
Watkins spent 36 years in Maryland prisons.3 He was represented in the reinvestigation by the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project, whose executive director, Shawn Armbrust, said that everyone involved in the original case “rushed to judgment and allowed their tunnel vision to obscure obvious problems with the evidence.”43 No sourced account of his education, work or record in prison was found in the sources reviewed.
On his release Watkins said, “This should have never happened,” and that “we’ve got a lot to fix,” Atlanta Black Star reported.5 When the three filed their federal lawsuit in 2020, he said, “This isn’t the end—it’s just the beginning.”7 He appears in the HBO documentary When a Witness Recants; at its premiere he said, “I want them to get involved before this happens.”10
No testimony, finding or on-record statement about Watkins’s mental health was found in the sources reviewed.
The office reopened the case in 2019 after Alfred Chestnut wrote to its Conviction Integrity Unit, joined the defendants' petition for a writ of actual innocence, and dismissed all charges.31 Prosecutors said police reports showed several witnesses had identified an 18-year-old as the shooter, and the office cited police and prosecutorial misconduct, including coaching and coercion of teenage witnesses.36
Watkins and his co-defendants maintained their innocence.8 Their federal lawsuit alleged that detectives coerced student witnesses into naming them, built a fabricated account and hid evidence pointing to another suspect.71
Lawyers for the former detectives sued in the case denied conducting improper witness interviews and called the reinvestigation "deeply flawed."9 Baltimore settled the lawsuit for $48 million; its acting city solicitor said the city did not admit liability and contested the allegations, and the police department's chief legal counsel said it was "difficult to defend this case."98
No statement by DeWitt Duckett's family about the exoneration was found in the sources reviewed.
DeWitt Duckett, 14, is shot in the neck at Harlem Park Junior High School and dies at a hospital.1
A Baltimore jury convicts all three; each is sentenced to life in prison.31
Chestnut obtains sealed police records through a public records request.3
After Chestnut writes to it, the State's Attorney's Conviction Integrity Unit reopens the case.34
A judge grants a writ of actual innocence and vacates the convictions; the State dismisses the charges, and the three are released.13
Maryland's Board of Public Works votes to pay each man about $2.9 million.6
The three sue the Baltimore Police Department and former detectives in federal court.7
A federal judge denies motions to dismiss the lawsuit.1
Baltimore's Board of Estimates approves a $48 million settlement.89
The criminal case is over: the convictions were vacated on a writ of actual innocence and the charges dismissed.13 The civil case ended with the 2023 settlement.8 HBO Max is to release When a Witness Recants on Nov. 17, 2026.11 No one else has been charged in DeWitt Duckett's death; the man prosecutors said witnesses had identified was shot and killed in 2002.31