State of Maryland v. John N. Huffington >/h2>

Justice Went to Hell in Frederick Maryland when John Norman Huffington was found guilty of a crime he did not commit and was sentenced to death.



In the early morning hours of May 25, 1981 Diane Becker ("Becker") and Joseph Hudson ("Hudson") were brutally murdered in Harford County, Maryland. There is little doubt that the murders were drug-related. On the night in question Deno Constantine Kanaras ("Kanaras") and John Norman Huffington ("Huffington") were seeking to obtain cocaine. Kanaras telephoned Huffington, who after attempting unsuccessfully to locate a seller, told the appellant to pick him up in order that the two might consummate a deal elsewhere. About midnight the two went to Pecora's Fallston Inn. After about forty-five minutes, they left for the Golden Forty, another drinking establishment, arriving there at about 1:20 A.M. At the Golden Forty Huffington spoke with Joseph Hudson about the possible purchase of cocaine. Shortly thereafter, Hudson and Diane Becker, his girlfriend, left the club with another couple. Appellant and Huffington followed the others to a local convenience store where Huffington and Hudson made the necessary arrangements for the cocaine deal. Appellant and Huffington continued to follow Hudson and Becker to the campgrounds, where the victims maintained a 22-foot Shasta recreational vehicle, 2 and then returned to Huffington's apartment. A deal with a third party was supposedly arranged and Hudson, believing that the third party wished to speak with him directly, accompanied appellant and Huffington to a location off Route 24 in Harford County. After they exited appellant's car, Hudson was shot several times by Huffington and cocaine was taken from his person. Huffington and Kanaras left Hudson for dead.



Deno Kanaras was the alleged accomplice of Huffington in the incidents here in question. Kanaras was convicted by a Kent County jury of felony murder, theft, and daytime housebreaking. See Kanaras v. State, 54 Md.App. 568, 460 A.2d 61, cert. denied, 297 Md. 109 (1983). At Kanaras' trial Stephen Rassa testified in rebuttal as a State's witness. Prior to that rebuttal testimony Kanaras had testified that he had been free from drugs for some time before the homicides in question. The purport of Rassa's testimony was that a few days before the incident in question Kanaras was still involved with drugs. Rassa told of a visit made by him and Kanaras to the homicide victims for the purpose of purchasing cocaine. At Kanaras' trial Rassa testified that Kanaras "said he wouldn't mind robbing Joe Hudson and killing him." Rassa said that five days before Hudson and Becker, the victims in the case at bar, were actually killed, when Rassa and Kanaras approached Hudson's trailer for the purpose of purchasing cocaine, Kanaras entered first armed with a gun and with a knife.



After laying a foundation of unsuccessful attempts to subpoena Rassa as a witness, Huffington offered the record of Rassa's testimony at the Kanaras trial in Kent County. He sought its admission as prior evidence to establish that Kanaras might have killed the victims in the case at bar. The trial judge denied admission, stating:



"The whole thrust of the cases in this area is that the right of cross-examination be fully afforded, and if it has not been afforded, then it is not only a violation of Article 21 of the Maryland Constitution but also before [sic] the amendment to the United States Constitution. It's clear from the proffered testimony in this case, and I find as a fact, that in the trial in which the Rassa transcript is sought to be used, Mr. Rassa was the State's witness, and accordingly, to grant your motion I would be depriving the State of its right to cross-examine fully Mr. Rassa in this case, which is a different case from the present case. The case in which the transcript is from, as I understand it, is the State v. Kanaras rather than the State v. Huffington, and so the situation is entirely different from the situation which caused me to grant the State's motion in connection with the Bognani testimony. Accordingly, the motion is denied."

Affirmed



Huffington's conviction was eventually reserved and he was exonerated.



In 2025, he filed suit in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland seeking compensation for the violation of his civil rights.