Tears welled in John Huffington’s eyes Thursday as he recalled his mother’s words — that maybe he was in prison for a reason.

Now, more than a decade after his release and two years after a state apology and multimillion-dollar settlement, Huffington says he’s found that reason.

“I can’t help but acknowledge 32 lost years,” he said at a press conference, “but what I refuse is to have 32 wasted years.”

Huffington, who was wrongfully imprisoned for the 1981 Memorial Day murders in Harford County, filed a civil lawsuit Thursday against the county and former members of the sheriff’s and state’s attorney’s offices. He’s seeking accountability for what he calls malicious prosecution and false arrest — and justice not just for himself, but for others he believes are still behind bars for crimes they didn’t commit.

The Washington Post first reported this story.

His complaint names the estate representatives of former Harford County State’s Attorney and Assistant State’s Attorney Joseph Cassilly and Gerard Comen as defendants. Others named in the lawsuit include former Harford County sheriff’s office investigators William Van Horn, David Saneman and Wesley J. Picha as defendants.

Huffington accuses the men of malicious prosecution, false arrest and intentional infliction of emotional distress among other counts.

All of the men, except Saneman, are dead. Huffington is demanding a jury trial, per the complaint filed, and compensation.

Huffington detailed his experience in the book, “Innocent: An Obscene Miscarriage of Justice,” and has worked with reentry assistance programs for formerly incarcerated people in Baltimore.

In January 2023, then-Gov. Larry Hogan pardoned Huffington for the murders. By July of that year, the state apologized and gave him $3 million for his time spent in prison and housing assistance.

‘We want to hold him accountable’

On May 25, 1981, Diana Becker was found beaten to death in a camper home in Harford County. Her boyfriend, Joseph Hudson Jr., was found fatally shot on a nearby dirt road. By June 16 that year, a grand jury in Harford County indicted Huffington on two counts of first-degree murder and other offenses, with prosecutors arguing he and another person committed the crimes for cash and cocaine.

Huffington spent 32 years incarcerated, 10 of which were on death row, seeking post-conviction relief. He was released in 2013 after hair samples at the crime scene proved to not be his. Huffington entered an Alford plea in 2017, where he maintained his innocence while acknowledging prosecutors may have evidence to convict him. Huffington said he was pressured into entering the plea.

In 2021, Joseph Cassilly, the then-Harford County state’s attorney who prosecuted Huffington’s case, was disbarred for his handling of it. In Huffington’s case, Joseph Cassilly was accused of discarding evidence, not disclosing exculpatory evidence, seeking to have evidence destroyed and knowingly making false statements to the court and defense attorneys.

Joseph Cassilly served as Harford County’s state’s attorney from 1983 to 2019, making him the longest to hold the position. He joined the office as an assistant state’s attorney in 1977 and was elected top prosecutor in 1983, winning reelection eight times before retiring.

His younger brother, Bob Cassilly, is the current Harford County executive. The younger Cassilly uplifted his brother as a war hero who he said could no longer defend himself after dying earlier this year from cardiac arrest. Bob Cassilly maintained the government has no responsibility in Huffington’s case.

“Harford County government, in which I currently serve as county executive, has no role in this case — the county was never the defendants’ employer,” Bob Cassilly said in a statement. “However, as Joe’s brother, and as a longtime public servant, I am proud that Harford County has always supported the professionals in law enforcement and the criminal justice system who protect innocent citizens from violent criminals.”

Huffington is represented by two Chicago-based firms, Romanucci & Blandin and Hart McLaughlin and Eldridge; and Baltimore-based Saller, Ernstberger and McElroy, which filed the first lawsuit against the Baltimore Police Department’s disbanded Gun Trace Task Force. Romanucci & Blandin supported civil rights attorney Ben Crump in getting a $10 million settlement for the family of Sonya Massey, a woman who was fatally shot by a Sangamon County Sheriff’s Department deputy.

“What Joseph Cassilly did in John Huffington’s case was unethical, reprehensible, and we want to hold him accountable,” attorney Brian Eldridge said, “even in his absence.”