Barry Pollack’s Pro Bono Client Anthony Hall Receives Writ of Actual Innocence

May 22, 2023 

Anthony Hall, who was wrongfully convicted of a 1991 murder, had his petition for a writ of actual innocence granted in March 2023 following an evidentiary hearing in Baltimore City Circuit Court. Mr. Hall was represented pro bono by Harris, St. Laurent & Wechsler LLP partner Barry Pollack.

“This is a long-fought victory for justice and everyone on Anthony’s team is thrilled for him,” said Pollack. “While the court’s recognition of his innocence comes three decades too late, it is gratifying that the world now knows that Anthony was innocent all along.”

In the original case, police accused Hall of fatally shooting Gerard Dorsey in Baltimore in 1991. At trial, prosecutors presented evidence from two eyewitnesses who identified Hall as the shooter, but there was no physical evidence tying Hall to the murder or apparent motive. Hall was convicted of second-degree murder and use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison. No appeal was filed. He was paroled after serving 27 years. 

One of the two purported eyewitnesses, Gerald Patterson, later admitted he only identified Hall as the shooter under pressure from Baltimore police detectives. Pollack presented Patterson as a witness during the hearing on Hall’s petition for a writ of actual innocence, along with a second witness who corroborated Patterson’s testimony that Patterson was not even there when the shooting took place.  Pollack also presented an eyewitness to the shooting who had been interviewed by the police afterwards, but whose identity and statements had not been disclosed to the defense. She testified that she saw the perpetrator and it was not Mr. Hall.

Based on this newly discovered evidence, Judge Charles J. Peters granted Mr. Hall’s petition and reversed the convictions. The Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office subsequently dismissed the case altogether.

Pollack’s co-counsel was Margaret E. Abernethy, of the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project, and Reyhan Watson, of Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP.

The case is Anthony G. Hall v. State of Maryland in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County.