Delegate Mike Griffith seeks repeal of county cost-sharing for wrongful-conviction awards

March 20, 2026 — The House Judiciary Committee heard HB1605 on Wednesday, a bill sponsored by Delegate Mike Griffith that would repeal a fiscal-year-2025 BRFA provision requiring counties to reimburse the state for 50% of wrongful-conviction compensation awards.

"The responsibility to fund that compensation should rest with the state," Griffith told the committee, arguing that counties have no role in prosecutions, appeals or award determinations and therefore should not shoulder the costs. The sponsor said plaintiffs’ and defense bars proposed a friendly amendment to make the bill apply retroactively to awards and payments issued on or after July 1, 2025, to cover four ongoing cases.

Witnesses for the bill included county officials and associations who described immediate and substantial fiscal impacts. Bunkie Luffman, director of administration for Wicomico County, said a settlement of about $573,000 produced an estimated county share of roughly $286,000 — an amount Luffman said equals multiple teacher salaries in a small county budget. Roscoe Leslie, Worcester County attorney, told the committee counties have "no levers" to prevent wrongful convictions because prosecutions and courts are state-controlled; he called the cost-sharing rule "not sensible." Weston Young, Worcester County’s chief administrative officer, said his county faces a potential liability of more than $2 million under the current cost-sharing approach and that limited local legal resources have forced counties to hire outside counsel.

Bruce Beriano and James Benjamin spoke for additional counties in support. Beriano said the BRFA change was a budget-balancing cost shift and urged repeal or at least a phased approach. James Benjamin, Baltimore County attorney appearing online, affirmed county support for the repeal and repeated the point that counties are not responsible for the prosecutorial decisions that result in awards.

Committee members questioned whether counties could pursue other legislative fixes — for example, requiring awards to be paid from a state's attorney budget — and whether counties have standing to intervene in innocence proceedings now that they face financial exposure. Panelists said state's attorneys are independently elected and that counties lack direct control, though one committee member observed that counties could propose targeted legislation to alter funding sources.

Kristin Mack, a civil-rights attorney representing exonerees, said she was "favorable with amendments" but warned the committee that adding counties as financially interested parties has led them to intervene and contest innocence in ways she said could undermine the Walter Lomax compensation process for exonerees. "By making the counties pay 50%, it has led to them trying to intervene...they're contesting innocence," Mack said, and said she feared the practical effect of the change on exonerees' ability to secure timely compensation.

The committee concluded the testimony and moved toward a scheduled vote session later in the day; the transcript records no committee votes on HB1605 during this hearing.