MAIP To Represent Haynesworth 

Twenty-five years ago the Richmond area was shaken by a series of robberies and rapes.  On the strength of eye witness identification, Thomas Haynesworth was sentenced to seventy-four years in prison.  Though Haynesworth never stopped maintaining his innocence, he was unable to prove that he had been wrongfully convicted.  Now, after having spent more than two decades in prison, DNA evidence may exonerate him. 

In 2005 Commonwealth Governor Mark Warner launched a project that would re-examine DNA evidence from convictions that occurred between  1973 and 1988.  A semen sample from Haynesworth case was among the evidence being retested.  The Department of Forensic Science failed to find a genetic profile that matched his.

Shawn Armbrust, the Executive Director of the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project, met with Haynesworth and believes this is a case of mistaken identity.  Armbrust and MAIP have agreed to represent Haynesworth.

If succesful, Haynesworth will become the eleventh Virginian to be exonerated of rape by DNA evidence.

Click here to read the Richmond Times-Dispatch's coverage. 

On March 2, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the matter of District Attorney's Office v. William G. Osborne.  Peter Neufeld, co-founder of the Innocence Project at the Cardozo School of Law, argued on behalf of Mr. Osborne.  The case raises questions over the existence of a constitutional right to post-conviction DNA testing.

In 1994 an Alaska state court found Osborne guilty of kidnapping and sexual assault.  Osborne subsequently sought access to evidence for DNA testing, but was denied by the District Attorney's Office.  The D.A.O.'s decision was reached despite their admission that testing could exonerate him and that the testing would come at no cost to the state.  In response to their refusal, Osborne filed a lawsuit in federal district court, alleging that his due process rights had been violated.  After a favorable decision for Osborne by the Court of Appeals, the DAO appealed the case to the Supreme Court. (more…)