WORCESTER COUNTY, Md. -- Douglass Haynie and his attorneys are seeking compensation for his wrongful conviction. In 1993, Haynie was sentenced to life in prison for a murder a judge has since ruled he did not commit.
Background and Timeline
The following is all based on court records provided to WBOC by the Worcester County State's Attorney's office.
On the morning of Mar. 6, 1993, a man named George Harmon found a dead body laying up beside a building in Snow Hill. The body was found in a grassy area behind Archie Dale's Fiber Wash, next to the Chicken Man market.
That dead body would later be identified as 29-year-old Anthony Cannon.
On Apr. 30, 1993, Haynie was arrested on murder charges. Fast forward to Nov. 30, 1993, and Haynie's murder trial in Worcester County Circuit Court began.
During the trial, Joseph Kopera, a forensic scientist with the Maryland State Police, testified as an expert witness for the state. Kopera testified that the bullet recovered from the crime scene was fired by a revolver that police recovered from Haynie's girlfriend.
Kopera's testimony was the only forensic evidence introduced at Haynie's trial.
Well, it would turn out that Kopera's credentials didn't add up.
A state investigation showed that he falsely testified that he was a graduate of the University of Maryland in Mechanical Engineering, a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology in Mechanical Engineering, and a graduate of the FBI Academy in the fields of firearms identification, ballistics, gunpowder residues, and primer residues.
According to Haynie's attorney, Kristen Mack with Hansel Law, news of Kopera's false credentials surfaced in 2007. But it wasn't until 2020 that the Maryland State Police wrapped up the internal investigation.
On Jan. 10, 2020, the Director of the Maryland State Police Forensic Sciences Division sent a notification to the Worcester County State's Attorney highlighting numerous cases in which Kopera was involved. That included Haynie's case.
On Mar. 20, 2020, the State's Attorney sent Haynie a letter, notifying him of this recent development.
That's when Haynie's quest for innocence truly began.
It took a few years, but on Apr. 11, 2024, Innocence Project attorneys filed a Petition for Writ of Actual Innocence on Haynie's behalf. On May 29, 2025, a Worcester County judge ordered Haynie's release from prison.
That, of course, brings us to today, Mar. 13, 2026.
Haynie v. Worcester County Government
Mr. Haynie, who is now 62-years-old, is seeking compensation for his wrongful conviction. However, Mack tells WBOC that a new Maryland law requiring counties to cover 50% of wrongful conviction compensation has muddied the waters.
"I don't think anyone thought about the repercussions of doing this," said Mack.
In this case, the repercussions for Mack and Haynie are that the Worcester County Government is challenging Haynie's innocence.
"If the counties are on the hook for a financial payout, it's required, I would say, for counties to represent their taxpayers in these matters," said Weston Young, Worcester County's Chief Administrative Officer.
Haynie is trying to further prove his innocence and be compensated under the Walter Lomax Act. The act, passed in 2021 and enacted in 2022, widens the pool of exonerees eligible to seek compensation.
However, it also requires exonerees and their attorneys, in this case Haynie and Mack, to convince an administrative judge that Haynie is, in fact, innocent.
"To prove a negative by a clear and convincing standard is really, really hard to do," said Mack.
Before counties got involved, at least financially, Mack said the only party that would challenge innocence is a State's Attorney's office. In this case, the Worcester County State's Attorney concluded: "There was insufficient evidence to prosecute Mr. Haynie for felony murder."
The Worcester County Government, however, due to its new cost-sharing responsibilities, said it now has a reason to get involved.
"We believe we have a right to participate and seek due process, and that's all we're doing in this," said Young.
Mack disagrees.
"I just don't think we should allow people to just throw whatever they want to up against the wall in this type of proceeding and just see if you can persuade the judge," said Mack.
Young said Haynie and his attorneys were initially seeking a $4.4 million payout. That's what prompted the county to hire an outside attorney to dispute Haynie's innocence and reduce the county's contribution.
"Counties are not part of the criminal proceedings," said Young. "But, if we're on the hook, we feel we have a right to participate and a right to seek due process."
The county is paying the outside attorney $100-$480 per hour, and as of Mar. 13, commissioners have paid a total of $47,894.70.
Mack and Haynie are now seeking compensation for 12 years, totaling $1,277,714. Mack said a hearing for Mr. Haynie in administrative court has not yet been set.
Young credited the compensation reduction to the work of the outside attorney, but Mack said her and her colleagues are simply adhering to the Walter Lomax statute.