For almost seven years, Willie Billinger served time for a double murder in Baltimore that he maintained from the beginning he did not commit.

He eventually won a new trial, and, later, his freedom.

Now, Billinger has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Baltimore against the Baltimore Police Department and the lead investigator in the case, retired Detective Julian Min, which alleges that the detective abused his power to secure a conviction at all costs.

Min, the lawsuit claims, did not focus on finding the real killer and concealed exculpatory evidence, fabricated an investigation and lied under oath. The complaint contains 10 counts, including malicious prosecution, intentional infliction of emotional distress and abuse of process.

“Mr. Billinger endured unimaginable trauma, pain, and distress during his incarceration,” Mandy Miliman, Howard Miliman and Joshua Tabor, Billinger’s civil attorneys, wrote in the 21-page complaint filed on Friday. “He missed spending time with his mother, who died while he was imprisoned. He also experienced the loss of his uncle, aunt, and cousins while in prison.”

Most importantly, the lawsuit notes, Billinger lost time with his six children.

“He missed proms and graduations, sporting events and school activities, and the everyday moments of parenting—both mundane and profound—that made his life worth living,” the lawsuit states.

In an email, Lindsey Eldridge, a spokesperson for the Baltimore Police Department, said it does not comment on pending litigation. Min could not be reached.

Billinger, 47, of Baltimore, was found guilty in 2018 in Baltimore Circuit Court on two counts of second-degree murder and was sentenced to 60 years in prison in the killings of Earline “Smiley” Thomas and Howard “Mike” Martin. They were both 53.

Their bodies were discovered inside an apartment on St. Paul Street, between East 25th and East 24th streets in Old Goucher, on March 14, 2017.

Police interviewed witnesses and obtained an arrest warrant. Billinger told detectives that he gave the couple drugs to sell but denied that he stabbed them to death.

The case largely centered on the testimony of Tyrone “Ty” Rice, who claimed that he saw Billinger attack Thomas and Martin in the apartment.

When he was in the Jessup Correctional Institution, Billinger made a discovery. Min, he realized, was on a list that the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office had created of more than 300 police officers with integrity issues.

Billinger then wrote a letter to the director of special litigation at the Maryland Office of the Public Defender in Baltimore, Deborah Katz Levi, who took on his case.

They obtained internal-affairs records detailing allegations that Min falsely arrested a maintenance worker in 2003 outside an office in Mount Vernon for which investigators recommended termination.

In 2023, Circuit Judge Melissa M. Phinn granted Billinger a new trial, ruling that prosecutors failed to turn over exculpatory evidence. Assistant state’s attorneys argued that they did not have the internal-affairs records in their possession.

Prosecutors later dropped the charges against Billinger in 2024 after Circuit Judge Robert A. Silkworth denied their motion to replay Rice’s previous testimony at the new trial.

The Baltimore Banner examined the case, which is mentioned in the complaint.

In a previous interview, Billinger said was enjoying his freedom and spending time with his children. He described the feeling as unexplainable.

But reflecting on his arrest and imprisonment, Billinger said, “It’s destroyed everything.”

Despite dismissing the charges, Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates said prosecutors were “focused on one person based on the evidence.”