softheart
04-06-2004, 09:42 AM
By Maria Glod
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 6, 2004; Page B01
New DNA tests conclusively prove the innocence of former Virginia death
row inmate Earl Washington Jr. and reveal serious errors by the state's
forensic laboratory, Washington's attorneys said yesterday.
Washington, who spent 17 years in prison -- including more than nine on
death row -- was pardoned in 2000 in the 1982 rape and murder of a
young Culpeper woman. Although forensic tests cast doubt on his guilt
and led to his pardon, a prosecutor has said he remains a suspect in
the case.
Washington's attorneys said results of the new tests, which they plan
to file today in federal court in Charlottesville, show that the
evidence that would have cleared Washington -- and convicted another
man -- has been in the state's custody for years but was misinterpreted
by Virginia forensic scientists.
"The powers that be in Virginia have refused to say Earl is factually
innocent, and Earl continues to live with that cloud over him," said
Peter Neufeld, one of Washington's attorneys. "We need to lift up the
stone on what's wrong with Virginia's system of capital justice and to
show everybody how easy it is to send a factually innocent man to death
row."
Paul B. Ferrara, director of Virginia's Division of Forensic Science,
said yesterday that he will review the new report and data but that he
is "fully confident in the accuracy of the work performed" in the case.
A spokeswoman for Virginia Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore (R) said
she could not comment because an investigation is ongoing. A special
prosecutor leading that investigation also declined to comment.
Washington's attorneys obtained the genetic samples over the objection
of the Virginia State Police, who successfully argued in court that
handing over evidence could thwart their ongoing criminal
investigation. But after Washington's attorneys obtained a subpoena,
the office of the Virginia medical examiner in December sent the
samples to Edward T. Blake, a California scientist.
Blake concluded that semen found on the victim's body was left by a
serial rapist named Kenneth Tinsley. Virginia forensic scientists had
determined that the genetic material was left by an unidentified man
who was not Washington. Confirmation of Blake's results could end one
of Virginia's most troubling criminal prosecutions, a case that led to
public scrutiny of Virginia's death penalty process and prompted
reforms in the state's criminal justice system.
Washington's case inspired a 2001 law that gives inmates who claim
innocence the right to seek DNA testing at any time, loosening what was
then the toughest rule in the nation on new evidence.
For Washington, 42, a mildly mentally retarded maintenance man who came
within five days of a scheduled execution, it could mean an end to the
fear and shame of being under suspicion.
In a telephone interview from his Virginia Beach apartment, Washington
said what he really wants is an apology. He said that dreams about
death row that used to haunt him occur less frequently now. But it
still upsets him when his wife reads newspaper articles to him noting
that authorities continue to say he may have been involved in the
slaying of Rebecca Williams.
"It makes me sad to hear people still saying that," Washington said.
"It hurts."
Williams, 19, was stabbed 38 times in her apartment on a June morning
in 1982 while her two young children were also inside. As she crumpled
onto her doorstep, she told a neighbor who rushed to help that she had
been stabbed by a black man.
Washington, who was then a farm worker, was convicted and sentenced to
death largely based on a confession in which he got several key details
wrong. Washington initially described Williams, who was white, as
black. He also said Williams was alone.
In a civil suit filed in federal court in Charlottesville, Washington's
attorneys have alleged that police and prosecutors coerced Washington,
who has an IQ of 69, into confessing to a crime he did not commit and
ignored details that pointed to his innocence. The lawyers are filing
the new DNA test results as part of that lawsuit.
In 1993, then-Gov. L. Douglas Wilder (D) commuted Washington's sentence
to life in prison after primitive forensic tests cast doubt on his
guilt. In 2000, then-Gov. James S. Gilmore III pardoned him after more
advanced testing failed to connect Washington to the crime and revealed
that Tinsley's DNA was left on a royal blue blanket in Williams's
apartment.
But even as Gilmore issued the pardon, his office said a separate
determination by Virginia scientists, that the DNA on Williams's
battered body was not Tinsley's, left open the possibility that the
genetic material on the blanket was unconnected to the crime.
According to Blake, the analysis cited by Gilmore's office was wrong.
Blake said in his report that his tests prove that Tinsley was the sole
source of the male DNA found on Williams's body. He said the
determination by Virginia forensic scientists that the genetic material
was left by another, unidentified man was "logically incoherent" and
"scientifically flawed."
Blake, who runs Forensic Science Associates, a private California DNA
laboratory, has conducted genetic testing both for defense attorneys
and for authorities in several states, including Virginia, California,
Arizona and Texas. His work has led to several exonerations, including
that of a former Maryland inmate, Kirk Bloodsworth, who was wrongly
convicted in the rape and killing of a 9-year-old girl.
Mark Stolorow, executive director of Orchid Cellmark, a
Germantown-based laboratory that specializes in DNA testing and was not
involved in Washington's case, said he could not offer an opinion on
Blake's report because he had not seen underlying data collected by the
Virginia scientists.
Tinsley, 58, who is serving life in prison for the 1984 rape of an
Albemarle County woman, also was twice convicted of rape in Chicago,
according to court and prison records. Williams's family members have
said he was not known to them.
Tinsley has not been charged in connection with Williams's slaying, but
court records identify him as a suspect. In an October 2000 report, an
Albermarle County police investigator wrote that Tinsley made his
living as a gambler and that he probably traveled along Route 29, which
passes through Culpeper near Williams's apartment.
Robert T. Hall, one of Washington's attorneys, said in a recent
interview that Tinsley told him authorities must have framed him by
planting his DNA on the blanket.
© 2004 The Washington Post Company
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 6, 2004; Page B01
New DNA tests conclusively prove the innocence of former Virginia death
row inmate Earl Washington Jr. and reveal serious errors by the state's
forensic laboratory, Washington's attorneys said yesterday.
Washington, who spent 17 years in prison -- including more than nine on
death row -- was pardoned in 2000 in the 1982 rape and murder of a
young Culpeper woman. Although forensic tests cast doubt on his guilt
and led to his pardon, a prosecutor has said he remains a suspect in
the case.
Washington's attorneys said results of the new tests, which they plan
to file today in federal court in Charlottesville, show that the
evidence that would have cleared Washington -- and convicted another
man -- has been in the state's custody for years but was misinterpreted
by Virginia forensic scientists.
"The powers that be in Virginia have refused to say Earl is factually
innocent, and Earl continues to live with that cloud over him," said
Peter Neufeld, one of Washington's attorneys. "We need to lift up the
stone on what's wrong with Virginia's system of capital justice and to
show everybody how easy it is to send a factually innocent man to death
row."
Paul B. Ferrara, director of Virginia's Division of Forensic Science,
said yesterday that he will review the new report and data but that he
is "fully confident in the accuracy of the work performed" in the case.
A spokeswoman for Virginia Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore (R) said
she could not comment because an investigation is ongoing. A special
prosecutor leading that investigation also declined to comment.
Washington's attorneys obtained the genetic samples over the objection
of the Virginia State Police, who successfully argued in court that
handing over evidence could thwart their ongoing criminal
investigation. But after Washington's attorneys obtained a subpoena,
the office of the Virginia medical examiner in December sent the
samples to Edward T. Blake, a California scientist.
Blake concluded that semen found on the victim's body was left by a
serial rapist named Kenneth Tinsley. Virginia forensic scientists had
determined that the genetic material was left by an unidentified man
who was not Washington. Confirmation of Blake's results could end one
of Virginia's most troubling criminal prosecutions, a case that led to
public scrutiny of Virginia's death penalty process and prompted
reforms in the state's criminal justice system.
Washington's case inspired a 2001 law that gives inmates who claim
innocence the right to seek DNA testing at any time, loosening what was
then the toughest rule in the nation on new evidence.
For Washington, 42, a mildly mentally retarded maintenance man who came
within five days of a scheduled execution, it could mean an end to the
fear and shame of being under suspicion.
In a telephone interview from his Virginia Beach apartment, Washington
said what he really wants is an apology. He said that dreams about
death row that used to haunt him occur less frequently now. But it
still upsets him when his wife reads newspaper articles to him noting
that authorities continue to say he may have been involved in the
slaying of Rebecca Williams.
"It makes me sad to hear people still saying that," Washington said.
"It hurts."
Williams, 19, was stabbed 38 times in her apartment on a June morning
in 1982 while her two young children were also inside. As she crumpled
onto her doorstep, she told a neighbor who rushed to help that she had
been stabbed by a black man.
Washington, who was then a farm worker, was convicted and sentenced to
death largely based on a confession in which he got several key details
wrong. Washington initially described Williams, who was white, as
black. He also said Williams was alone.
In a civil suit filed in federal court in Charlottesville, Washington's
attorneys have alleged that police and prosecutors coerced Washington,
who has an IQ of 69, into confessing to a crime he did not commit and
ignored details that pointed to his innocence. The lawyers are filing
the new DNA test results as part of that lawsuit.
In 1993, then-Gov. L. Douglas Wilder (D) commuted Washington's sentence
to life in prison after primitive forensic tests cast doubt on his
guilt. In 2000, then-Gov. James S. Gilmore III pardoned him after more
advanced testing failed to connect Washington to the crime and revealed
that Tinsley's DNA was left on a royal blue blanket in Williams's
apartment.
But even as Gilmore issued the pardon, his office said a separate
determination by Virginia scientists, that the DNA on Williams's
battered body was not Tinsley's, left open the possibility that the
genetic material on the blanket was unconnected to the crime.
According to Blake, the analysis cited by Gilmore's office was wrong.
Blake said in his report that his tests prove that Tinsley was the sole
source of the male DNA found on Williams's body. He said the
determination by Virginia forensic scientists that the genetic material
was left by another, unidentified man was "logically incoherent" and
"scientifically flawed."
Blake, who runs Forensic Science Associates, a private California DNA
laboratory, has conducted genetic testing both for defense attorneys
and for authorities in several states, including Virginia, California,
Arizona and Texas. His work has led to several exonerations, including
that of a former Maryland inmate, Kirk Bloodsworth, who was wrongly
convicted in the rape and killing of a 9-year-old girl.
Mark Stolorow, executive director of Orchid Cellmark, a
Germantown-based laboratory that specializes in DNA testing and was not
involved in Washington's case, said he could not offer an opinion on
Blake's report because he had not seen underlying data collected by the
Virginia scientists.
Tinsley, 58, who is serving life in prison for the 1984 rape of an
Albemarle County woman, also was twice convicted of rape in Chicago,
according to court and prison records. Williams's family members have
said he was not known to them.
Tinsley has not been charged in connection with Williams's slaying, but
court records identify him as a suspect. In an October 2000 report, an
Albermarle County police investigator wrote that Tinsley made his
living as a gambler and that he probably traveled along Route 29, which
passes through Culpeper near Williams's apartment.
Robert T. Hall, one of Washington's attorneys, said in a recent
interview that Tinsley told him authorities must have framed him by
planting his DNA on the blanket.
© 2004 The Washington Post Company