Prosecutors called the cases on Tuesday against Albert Gordon, but they were anything but routine.
A 62-year-old man stepped forward to the trial table. But his name was not Albert Gordon. And the charges that included battery and resisting arrest were more than 40 years old.
The circumstances that landed him inside a courtroom in Baltimore decades later mostly remain a mystery.
“It is just a bizarre set of facts and administrative glitches,” said his attorney, Doug Gansler, who served as Maryland attorney general from 2007 to 2015. “It’s a hot mess.”
Here’s what is known about the case:
Baltimore Circuit Judge H. Gary Bass in 1985 signed off on four arrest warrants for someone named Albert Gordon, court records show, and reissued them more than five months later.
But at the time, the man was incarcerated in an unrelated case. They do share the same last name.
Law enforcement had arrested him in Baltimore County to face prosecution in Washington, D.C., where he was found guilty in 1987 of first-degree murder and related crimes and sentenced to more than 50 years in prison.
He was released in 2020.
His attorney was preparing paperwork to seek court permission for him to travel to Jamaica and stumbled upon the arrest warrants. He’s adamant he has never used an alias.
Gansler took the case pro bono and filed a motion to recall and quash the arrest warrants.
He said he has several theories about what could have happened. Maybe a man named Albert Gordon assumed his client’s identity when he was locked up?
But even if the arrest warrants were for his client, Gansler argued, they were legally void because so much time had passed.
Gansler said he served as a prosecutor for 22 years. He described his client as a poster child for rehabilitation.
“I would not have had the honor and privilege of meeting him, and I did,” Gansler said. “It’s heartwarming to see that somebody could turn their life around so dramatically.”
The man now lives outside Philadelphia with his wife and works as a customer service manager at a car dealership. Gansler said they met up for breakfast at David and Dad’s Cafe and then walked over to the Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. Courthouse for the hearing.
Assistant State’s Attorney Sharon DuBey announced that prosecutors were dropping all charges.
“All right,” Baltimore Circuit Judge Shannon E. Avery said, “you’re free to go.”
In less than five minutes, the 40-year-old charges were resolved.
Comments
Welcome to The Banner's subscriber-only commenting community. Please review our community guidelines.