A man is suing the Government for more than $21 million after he was wrongfully convicted of murder and attempted murder.

Julian Washington, who was imprisoned between 2014 and 2024, accused the Government of false imprisonment, malicious prosecution and constitutional breaches, as well as abuse of process and negligence.

According to a writ filed last October, Mr Washington said that he was owed $12 million for wrongful imprisonment, as well as $1,868,000 for special damages, $6 million for aggravated damages and $2 million for exemplary damages.

The suit also demands constitutional damages to be assessed by the courts.

Mr Washington was convicted in September 2014 of the murder of Stefan Burgess and attempted murder of Davano Brimmer in 2012.

During the 2½-week Supreme Court trial, the prosecution case relied on DNA evidence from Trinity DNA Solutions linking Mr Washington to the scene of the crime.

However, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council found that the DNA evidence was flawed and inaccurate, and quashed his life sentence, of which he was ordered to serve a minimum of 30 years, in October 2024.

The suit, filed against the Attorney-General, as a representative of the Government of Bermuda, said the defendant in this case was “vicariously liable” for the actions of the Bermuda Police Service, the Department of Public Prosecutions and the Government analyst’s laboratory.

The writ claimed that Mr Washington’s conviction was part of a “systematic pattern of persecution against Mr Washington by agents and servants of the Government”.

It cited “repeated use of flawed DNA evidence”, as well as a “pattern of police harassment” that included multiple “arbitrary” arrests, bad-faith detention, targeting based off assumptions of being a gang member and the “escalation of charges” from use of a firearm to murder.

The writ claimed he was prosecuted without reasonable and probable cause and with “malice,” evidenced, it alleged, by the prosecution’s “reckless indifference” to the evidence’s reliability, a pattern of discriminatory targeting and proceeding with charges despite “fundamental evidentiary deficiencies”.

The suit said that Mr Washington was owed duties of care through careful forensic analysis, verifying evidence, maintaining adequate laboratory standards and making sound prosecutorial decisions based off reliable evidence.

It claimed that the absence of such duties of care constituted negligence, while the following “reckless indifference” served as misfeasance in public office.

It added that his rights to personal liberty, a fair trial and protection from discrimination were all violated.

The writ said Mr Washington suffered “psychological and reputational harm” as a result of his experiences, as well as a “loss of dignity, relationships and life opportunities that cannot be fully compensated”.

The jury in Mr Washington’s trial heard that Mr Burgess and Mr Brimmer attended a birthday party at a home on The Glebe Road on January 8, 2012, when a man wearing a dark helmet and clothing opened fire.

The gunman then fled the scene, riding away on a waiting motorcycle.

Mr Brimmer suffered a non-fatal gunshot wound to his groin, but Mr Burgess was shot twice in the upper body and later pronounced dead at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

Mr Washington was later arrested for the offence and charged with murder and attempted murder, along with possessing a firearm to commit an indictable offence and handling ammunition.

He denied the charges and maintained his innocence throughout the investigation and his trial.

Mr Washington appealed his conviction, but it was dismissed by the Court of Appeal of Bermuda.

Mr Washington’s case was brought into question in 2022 by the Death Penalty Project, a British-based group that focuses on promoting fairness in criminal justice and protecting those who faced execution.

The group cited Dan Krane, a professor of biological sciences at Wright State University in Ohio, who found “significant errors” in Trinity’s methodology and determined that the evidence should have been excluded entirely.

Candy Zuleger, the founder of Trinity DNA Solutions, worked alongside the BPS on about 450 cases between 2006 and 2016, and appeared as a prosecution witness for many Supreme Court criminal cases.

The Privy Council’s ruling prompted the DPP to review 273 cases that Ms Zuleger worked on, two of which — the cases of Anwar Muhammad and Kofi Dill — were deemed to have been “tainted”.

Mr Muhammad’s attempted murder conviction was quashed last June, while Dill’s guilty plea for handling a firearm was upheld by the Court of Appeal despite the flawed evidence.

Ms Zuleger voluntarily withdrew the lab’s forensic analysis accreditation in the US in 2018 and the firm was dissolved four years later.

She set up a new limited liability corporation in Florida, Trinity DNA, in February 2021.

A spokesman for Forensica Legal, which filed this claim, confirmed that the case is still in front of the Supreme Court but could not confirm on record when it will next appear.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice confirmed that the Government had received the claim and is engaging with it through the appropriate legal process.

He said the Government was not in a position to comment on the specific legal proceedings as the matter is presently before the court, but said: “The Ministry of Justice remains committed to upholding the rule of law and delivering fair, transparent and accessible justice to all.”

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