Post by Shuftin on Nov 16, 2006 6:19:15 GMT -5
Retarded Man Convicted By The Lies Of Virginia State Police Investigator Curtis Reese Wilmore's Came Within 9 Days Of Being Executed Before Pardon Awarded $2.25 Million. State Paid $1 Million To Defend Bad Cop
2006-09-23
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA -- A $2.25 million jury award to a former death row inmate will be appealed by the family of a state police investigator who jurors concluded fabricated a confession that nearly sent the inmate to his death.
Earl Washington Jr., 46, spent 9 years on death row for the rape and murder of Rebecca Lynn Williams, a 19-year-old mother of three who was found stabbed to death in her Culpeper apartment in 1982.
DNA testing led to Washington's pardon in 2000.
In May, a federal jury in Charlottesville found that Curtis Reese Wilmore, a highly regarded, career state police officer who died in 1994, fabricated parts of Washington's confession.
Wilmore won a confession from Washington in 1983 in which Washington was said to have known details of the crime only the killer could have known. Washington is mildly retarded.
The Richmond law firm McGuireWoods, which has billed the state for $1 million to defend Wilmore, will pursue the appeal free of charge. The state will no longer pay the legal fees, a spokesman for Gov. Timothy M. Kaine told the Richmond Times-Dispatch on Friday.
The DNA testing that led to Washington's pardon implicated convicted rapist Kenneth Maurice Tinsley, 61. He will be arraigned Oct. 10 in Culpeper County Circuit Court on capital murder charges in the Williams slaying.
Tinsley is serving a life term in a Virginia state prison.
The Wilmore estate filed notice it intends to appeal to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. It could take six to 18 months for a decision.
Lawyers for Washington, who came within nine days of his execution, have said they plan to ask Kaine to fully exonerate their client. Washington is now a maintenance worker in Virginia Beach.
content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=104053&ran=204985&tref=po
2006-09-23
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA -- A $2.25 million jury award to a former death row inmate will be appealed by the family of a state police investigator who jurors concluded fabricated a confession that nearly sent the inmate to his death.
Earl Washington Jr., 46, spent 9 years on death row for the rape and murder of Rebecca Lynn Williams, a 19-year-old mother of three who was found stabbed to death in her Culpeper apartment in 1982.
DNA testing led to Washington's pardon in 2000.
In May, a federal jury in Charlottesville found that Curtis Reese Wilmore, a highly regarded, career state police officer who died in 1994, fabricated parts of Washington's confession.
Wilmore won a confession from Washington in 1983 in which Washington was said to have known details of the crime only the killer could have known. Washington is mildly retarded.
The Richmond law firm McGuireWoods, which has billed the state for $1 million to defend Wilmore, will pursue the appeal free of charge. The state will no longer pay the legal fees, a spokesman for Gov. Timothy M. Kaine told the Richmond Times-Dispatch on Friday.
The DNA testing that led to Washington's pardon implicated convicted rapist Kenneth Maurice Tinsley, 61. He will be arraigned Oct. 10 in Culpeper County Circuit Court on capital murder charges in the Williams slaying.
Tinsley is serving a life term in a Virginia state prison.
The Wilmore estate filed notice it intends to appeal to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. It could take six to 18 months for a decision.
Lawyers for Washington, who came within nine days of his execution, have said they plan to ask Kaine to fully exonerate their client. Washington is now a maintenance worker in Virginia Beach.
content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=104053&ran=204985&tref=po