Disgraced cop Daniel Hersl and other Baltimore cops planted a gun and stole years of Keyon Paylor’s life
BALTIMORE – Today, attorneys for Keyon Paylor, 32, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) and at least four officers involved in framing Mr. Paylor for gun possession charges in 2014.
The allegations in the lawsuit are similar to those made against the corrupt (and now disbanded) Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF), the “elite” unit within the BPD that was investigated by the FBI and found to be engaged in racketeering, robbery, extortion, and fraud. Daniel Hersl, the lead detective in Mr. Paylor’s case, was convicted in 2018, along with seven other members of the GTTF. He is currently serving 18 years in prison.
The GTTF was notorious for conducting warrantless searches, planting evidence (including guns), and stealing money from the people they framed—all of which happened to Mr. Paylor. On January 2, 2014, Hersl and the other officers named in the complaint burst into Mr. Paylor’s home without a warrant and conducted an unlawful search. In the process, the complaint contends, they stole several thousand dollars of Mr. Paylor’s money, and planted a handgun on the front porch which they claimed they saw Mr. Paylor hide—all to cover up their own misconduct.
Mr. Paylor, fearing no one would believe him over a police officer—even though their story was fabricated—pled guilty to felony firearm possession and was sentenced to five years in prison. Unbeknownst to Mr. Paylor, the FBI began investigating the GTTF, and listened to recorded calls that Mr. Paylor made from jail right after his arrest. In those calls, Mr. Paylor discussed how he had been framed. Knowing they had found yet another victim of Hersl, the FBI sought and received Mr. Paylor’s cooperation with the federal investigation. However, it still took 10 years to have Mr. Paylor’s name cleared, his sentence vacated, and all charges dismissed.
Today, Mr. Paylor is seeking justice for his wrongful conviction and imprisonment. He has filed a civil rights lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, naming as defendants Daniel Hersl, John Burns, Timothy Romeo, Jordan Moore, the Baltimore Police Department, and unknown employees of the BPD who aided the conspiracy. The suit charges the defendants with 10 counts of violating Mr. Paylor’s rights under state and federal law, including violation of due process, malicious prosecution, unlawful detention, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and conspiracy.
“For far too long, Detective Hersl and his colleagues at the BPD abused their police powers, committing crimes while hiding behind their badges,” says Gayle Horn of Loevy + Loevy, one of Mr. Paylor’s attorneys. “This misconduct was deeply entrenched in the Baltimore Police Department long before Keyon Paylor’s arrest, but the BPD did nothing to curtail it, and innocent men like Mr. Paylor paid the price for the City’s complicity and indifference.”
Mr. Paylor is represented by attorneys Jon Loevy, Gayle Horn, and Renee Spence of the civil rights law firm Loevy + Loevy. Earlier this month, Loevy + Loevy helped secure a record $50 million verdict for a similarly framed and exonerated Chicago man named Marcel Brown.
“The Baltimore Police Department needs to be held accountable for this lawless behavior,” says attorney Jon Loevy. “As our recent verdicts have shown, the people are tired of seeing innocent men framed for crimes they did not commit. Juries are sending a clear and strong message to police departments and the cities that employ them that it has to stop.”
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A copy of the complaint can be found here.
Loevy & Loevy is one of the nation’s largest civil rights law firms, and over the past decade has won more multi-million-dollar jury verdicts than any other civil rights law firm in the country.
