Eyewitness error and police tunnel vision put 22-year-old Jeffrey Cox in prison for a crime he did not commit. He became a suspect in a brutal kidnapping and murder based on tentative eyewitness identifications, even though two other men were rumored to be the perpetrators. Even after new evidence was discovered that helped prove Cox’s innocence, Virginia prosecutors were less than willing to explore the possibility that they had the wrong man, causing Cox to spend 11 years in prison.

In the early hours of August 31, 1990, a 63-year-old woman was abducted from her home by two men. After one offender grabbed the woman and put her in a car, a second offender drove away. The victim’s body was discovered shortly after her kidnapping. She had been stabbed to death. Two neighbors witnessed the abduction and stated that the perpetrators were two white males. Police believed the two offenders to be Billy Madison and Steven Hood, but neither witness identified Hood or Madison in a photo lineup. Instead, both tentatively identified Jeffery Cox, who had been included in the array because he was a friend of Madison’s whom Hood suggested might have been involved. Both witnesses said that they wanted to see Cox in person to be sure.

After the tentative identifications, Cox, who had no criminal record, became the chief suspect. When he could not state with certainty where he was on the night of the crime, he was arrested. After his arrest, Cox participated in n in-person lineup for the two witnesses. One of the witnesses was unable to identify Cox as the perpetrator, and the other witness was never asked to view the lineup. Despite the witnesses’ failure to identify Cox, he was tried for the murder.

Both witnesses testified at trial and identified Cox as the perpetrator. Cox testified on his own behalf, along with several alibi witnesses. Before reaching a verdict, the jury asked the judge several questions. They wanted to know why Cox was a suspect, why the scientific evidence – such as the skin and hairs under the victim’s nails – had not been tested, and what happened during of the police questioning of Cox. The judge refused to answer any of the questions, and the jury found Cox guilty. He was sentenced to life plus 50 years in prison.

After he was convicted, Cox tried every available measure to prove his innocence. He appealed, he requested numerous times that the physical evidence be tested, he filed for a writ of habeas corpus, and he hired new lawyers. The police claimed to have destroyed the physical evidence. After years of struggling to prove his innocence, in 1997 Cox’s family hired two new attorneys, who discovered several significant pieces of evidence, including: (1) one eyewitness had an extensive criminal past that he had lied about at trial, a fact unknown to Cox’s defense attorney; (2) charges pending against the other witness were dropped after she testified against Cox, suggesting that she had made a deal with the prosecution that was not disclosed to the defense; (3) police had withheld from the defense a “Crime Stoppers�? report containing the eyewitnesses’ descriptions of the perpetrator, which did not match Cox’s physical description; and (4) police and prosecutors had not turned over to the defense potentially helpful hair analysis concluding that two hairs found on the victim’s body were a different color than Cox’s hair. They asked the FBI to initiate a federal investigation into the murder.

With the discovery of the new evidence, Cox’s attorneys sought to prove that Cox was innocent. With the FBI’s support, they filed for an amended state habeas petition. Although their petition was denied, they appealed to the Supreme Court of Virginia. In the meantime, Stephen Hood was arrested and charged with abduction and murder in the Cox case. Extensive evidence against Hood had been discovered throughout the course of the FBI investigation, and Hood eventually confessed to the crime, telling police that his accomplice had been Billy Madison. Despite this confession, police refused to acknowledge that Cox was innocent.

In September 2001, the Virginia Supreme Court granted Cox’s state habeas petition. The prosecutors finally reached an agreement with Cox and his lawyers. On November 13, 2001, Cox’s conviction was vacated. After spending 11 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, Jeffery Cox was released from prison.

In 2002 Stephen Hood was convicted of the crime for which Cox served 11 years. Hood was sentenced to 65 years. Billy Madison has not been convicted. Jeffery Cox received $750,000 from the Commonwealth in compensation for his wrongful conviction.