Michael Austin
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- This article is about Michael Austin, the man falsely convicted of murder. For the golfer, see Mike Austin. For the Australian academic see Michael Phillip Austin.
Michael Austin, 6'5 and dark skinned, was convicted in 1974 of murdering Roy Kellam at an East Baltimore store. A clerk at the market picked out Austin's mug-shot and identified him as the shooter. At the scene, however, the clerk had told detectives that the shooter was a light-skinned black man, about 5-foot-8.
Austin's conviction was overturned and he was released from prison in 2001, after an investigation by Centurion Ministries, a nonprofit organization based in Princeton, N.J., found proof of his innocence.
Although the conviction was expunged, under Maryland law a pardon is required before an unlawfully imprisoned person can seek compensation.
Austin waited until 2003 to request a pardon because he wanted to prove conclusively to the governor that he could be a contributing member of the community, his lawyer, Larry Allen Nathans of Baltimore, said at the time.
In November 2004, the state of Maryland awarded him 1.4 million dollars in restitution for the 27 years of wrongful imprisonment.[1]
