Question

Please thoroughly Summarize one of the capital punishment cases on the Innocence Project web site.

Answer 1

Earl Washington

In 1984 ,Earl Washington,a 22-year-old black man was wrongfully convicted of rape and murder. He was sentenced to death row in Virginia.

In June 1982, Rebecca Lynn Williams, a 19-year-old mother of three was raped and stabbed over thirty times in her Culpeper, Virginia apartment. She could only describe her attacker as a black man acting alone before she passed away.

The Investigation and Trial:

Of the five “confessions,” the first four were dismissed by the Commonwealth because of the inconsistencies .Only on the fourth attempt at a rehearsed confession did authorities accept Washington’s statement and have it recorded in writing with Washington’s signature.At trial, only the State’s psychologist testified, claiming that Washington was competent when his statement was given.

At the penalty phase of the trial, the defense did not offer any counter argument to the jury concerning a sentence of death. The jurors returned with their verdict of death on January 20, 1984. In May 1984, Washington pled guilty to an unrelated case of burglary and malicious wounding and was sentenced to two consecutive fifteen year sentences.

The Post-Conviction Investigation:

In August 1985, with a September execution date imminent, another death row inmate, Joseph Giarrantano, alerted Marie Deans (a non-lawyer, who for years had been assisting capital prisoners voluntarily) and a lawyer who was at the Virginia prison working on another case, of Washington’s story. The attorney brought Washington’s case to her law firm and the firm secured a stay of execution for Washington nine days before he was scheduled to die.

Life after Exoneration:

Washington is now married and serves as a maintenance worker in Virginia Beach. He was awarded almost $2 million from the state for his wrongful conviction.

His case also inspired a 2001 Virginia law allowing inmates who claim innocence to seek DNA testing at any time, which loosened one of the toughest rules in the nation surrounding new evidence.