A Baltimore legislator yesterday introduced a bill that would have the state pay a Southern Maryland man $7.5 million for serving more than seven years in prison for a killing he did not commit.

The bill, introduced on the House floor by Democratic Del. Clarence Davis, directs Gov. Parris N. Glendening to budget the money for the "wrongful conviction and wrongful imprisonment" of Anthony Gray Jr., 31, of Calvert County.

The bill must go to a committee -- most likely the House Appropriations Committee -- for consideration. Robert Zarnock, counsel to the General Assembly, said bills authorizing payments to individuals are unusual but permissible. Davis' bill appears at first reading to fit within the legislature's rules, he said.

Davis said mistakes by the state were responsible for the conviction, and the state should pay.

"I put a million dollars a year on his time and suffering, but it will be up to the committee to decide on that," Davis said. "I'm not sure whether that is an adequate reimbursement, but something should be done. I think the state is obligated to this man, and I want to see justice is done for him."

Gray, a borderline retarded man who had a history of minor legal troubles, was arrested in June 1991, six weeks after the killing of Linda May Pellicano. The Chesapeake Beach woman had been stabbed to death and raped in one of the most brutal crimes in county history.

Investigators were under intense pressure to solve the crime, and they arrested Gray and two other men. Gray's co-defendants went to trial and were acquitted -- one by a judge who refused to let the case go to the jury because of a lack of evidence.

With no attorney representing Gray, he confessed to the crime. He has said he confessed because investigators told him they had evidence against him and that if he did not admit to the crime, he would face the death penalty.

Gray pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and rape charges, and was sentenced to life in prison.

Last month, after the Calvert County state's attorney reopened the case, Gray was freed. The state's attorney, Robert Riddle, acknowledged before a judge that no evidence linked Gray to the crime.

Physical evidence gathered at the crime scene indicated that someone else was responsible for the woman's rape and killing. Fingerprints and DNA evidence recovered at the scene did not belong to Gray.

"He was absolutely innocent, without a doubt," said attorney Joel Katz of Annapolis, who reinvestigated the case with Riddle, who was not the state's attorney when Gray was prosecuted. "This was not a case of him getting off through a loophole or on some technicality.

"How much does he deserve? I can answer that with a question," Katz said. "How much money would someone be willing to take to spend more than seven years of their life in jail, seven days a week, 24 hours a day?

"If you offered most people $10 million they wouldn't do it. He spent the majority of his adult life imprisoned, deprived of the chance to develop some skill to carry him financially through his life."

Legal experts have said that Gray could file a malpractice lawsuit against two attorneys who represented him after his confes- sion. Such lawsuits, however, are difficult to win, experts say.

A provision in Maryland law could also provide compensation for Gray. That would require a full pardon from the governor, then a determination from the state attorney general's office that a payment is warranted.

That scenario is also considered difficult, though, because the state's attorney has stopped short of proclaiming Gray's innocence -- saying only that the evidence is insufficient to convict.

Two people wrongfully convicted have been compensated by the state. Kirk Bloodworth of Cambridge was awarded $300,000 after serving nine years, including time on death row, for a killing he did not commit. Another man, Leslie A. Vass of Baltimore, was awarded $250,000 after prosecutors acknowledged he had served 10 years in prison for an armed robbery he did not commit.

Under the bill introduced by Davis, the governor would be required to appropriate the money in the state budget for fiscal year 2001, through the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.

Davis could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Pub Date: 3/11/99