12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Check in from 11:15 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.

Please join us as we honor Senator Patrick Leahy for his tireless work on behalf of the innocent and the legal team that won the David Boyce victory.

To sponsor this event, please choose from the options below. Checks may be sent to:

The Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project
4801 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20016

For sponsorships up to $10,000 and single tickets, you may also pay via PayPal:

Sponsorship Options

The Decade Society (Includes top signage & a full table of 10) -$10,000.00 USD Champion of Justice (Includes a full table of 10 tickets) -$5,000.00 USD Defender of Innocence (Includes 5 tickets) -$3,000.00 USD Advocate (Includes 2 tickets) -$1,500.00 USD Individual Ticket -$125.00 USD Individual Ticket (Public Interest Rate) -$100.00 USD

Guardian of Freedom – $100,000: Guardians will sponsor a MAIP staff attorney who will be named after their organization for two years. This recognition will be used in the attorney’s email signature and on MAIP’s website and all related publicity materials.

Additionally, sponsors will receive recognition in the invitation and on the cover of event’s program; personal signage recognition on each table; a full table (10 tickets) at the event; a two-page spread program advertisement with prime placement; acknowledgement from the podium and space for promotional materials at the event; premier event signage; and year-long premier recognition on MAIP’s website.

Protector of Truth – $50,000: Protectors will receive recognition as the primary sponsor of the event in the invitation, on the cover of event’s program, and on the central backdrop sign behind the podium; personal signage recognition on each table; a full table (10 tickets) at the event; a two-page spread program advertisement with prime placement; acknowledgement from the podium and space for promotional materials at the event; premier event signage; and year-long premier recognition on MAIP’s website.

Voice of Courage – $25,000: Sponsors will receive recognition on the back cover of the event’s program; personal signage recognition on each table; a full table (10 tickets); a two-page spread program advertisement with prime placement; acknowledgement from the podium and space for promotional materials at the event; acknowledgement in the invitation; premier event signage; and year-long premier recognition on MAIP’s website.

The Decade Society – $10,000: Sponsors will receive a full table (10 tickets); acknowledgement from the podium and space for promotional materials at the event; a full-page program advertisement with prime placement; acknowledgement in the invitation; premier event signage; and year-long recognition on MAIP’s website.

Champion of Justice – $5,000: Champions will receive a full table (10 tickets); a full-page program advertisement; acknowledgement in the invitation; event signage recognition; and year-long recognition on MAIP’s website.

Defender of Innocence – $3,000: Defenders will receive 5 tickets; a half-page program advertisement; event signage recognition; and acknowledgement in the invitation.

Advocate – $1,500: Advocates will receive 2 tickets; a quarter-page program advertisement; and event signage recognition.

Individual Tickets – $125
Public Interest Rate – $100

—–

Additionally, if you would like to donate a different amount or are unable to attend the event but would still like to support our cause, please feel free to use the button below:

For questions, please contact Caryn Fiscella at cfiscella@exonerate.org. Thanks for your support, and we look forward to seeing you on July 11!

This case was troubling because Boyce was convicted of capital murder based largely on the testimony of a dog-sniffing “expert” and a snitch who was a repeat player and who got an undisclosed deal from the state. None of the copious physical evidence at the scene matched Boyce, and there also was a very compelling alternative suspect. While the opinion focuses on one particular Brady claim, the Brady violations also were quite extensive. This is the third federal habeas victory in the past year in a Virginia innocence case involving a Brady violation and/or other prosecutorial misconduct.

The state has 120 days to decide whether to retry Mr. Boyce; we hope he is released on bail soon while that decision is pending. While a special prosecutor is reviewing the case, the attorney general has decided not to appeal the federal judge’s decision.

Links to articles about the case are below.

Federal Judge Throws Out Capital Murder Conviction

State Won’t Appeal U.S. Dismissal of Man’s Murder Conviction

Judge Tosses 1991 Capital Murder Conviction, Life Sentences, in Newport News Case

“I am thrilled that the Virginia Supreme Court finally has vindicated what Mr. Diamond has been saying since he was arrested for this crime in 1976: that he is an innocent man who was the victim of a mistaken eyewitness identification,” said Parisa Dehghani-Tafti, the MAIP staff attorney who represented Diamond with Mary Kelly Tate, our co-counsel at the Institute for Actual Innocence at the University of Richmond. Former MAIP staff attorney John Hardenbergh also worked on the case.

Less than one year ago, Virginia’s Department of Forensic Science conducted DNA testing that proved Diamond was not a contributor to the semen found on a rape victim’s pants. That victim had been abducted, along with her two young children, from a rest stop on I-95 before dawn. When she described her attacker to police that morning, her description did not match Diamond. And, when her three-year-old son pointed out Diamond in a photo array, she expressly denied that it was him and pointed out the physical characteristics that did not match that of her attacker. Undeterred, police sent photo arrays that included photos of Diamond to the victim’s hometown and ultimately summoned her from out of state to attend a hearing at which Diamond appeared. It was at this hearing that the victim identified Diamond – after seeing his photo between two and four times. The previous description and non-identifications were never revealed to defense counsel. While the rape charge was dropped, Diamond was convicted of abduction with intent to defile in a bench trial based on this identification and testimony of a serologist regarding the victim’s pants. He was convicted despite at least three strong alibi witnesses.
Diamond’s case came to our attention in connection with the Virginia Old Case Testing Project, when he was notified there was biological evidence to be tested in connection with this case. When the test results were compared with Diamond’s DNA, they excluded him as the perpetrator. Ms. Dehghani-Tafti filed Diamond’s writ of actual innocence based on the exculpatory DNA results and then worked with the Office of the Attorney General, which ultimately agreed that, given the DNA exclusion, no rational trier of fact could have convicted Diamond of the crime in question.

“This case once again affirms the importance of Virginia’s Old Case Testing Project and the importance of cooperation between stakeholders in innocence cases,” said Shawn Armbrust, MAIP’s Executive Director.

In 2006, MAIP worked with then-Governor Mark Warner to secure DNA testing in hundreds of cases from the Virginia Department of Forensic Science in which biological evidence had been saved between 1973 to 1988. Including Diamond, eight people have been exonerated since then-Governor Warner ordered the testing of this evidence.

Diamond, who already had served his sentence, is thrilled to be vindicated after all these years.

Photo by the Virginia Department of Corrections

Michael Wayne Hash has finally been cleared of the charges for which he spent 12 years wrongly imprisoned. At a hearing on August 20, 2012, special prosecutor Raymond Morrogh asked Judge Susan Whitlock nolle prosse a 2000 murder charge, based on the determination that there was insufficient evidence to charge Mr. Hash for the crime. This request was made after a federal judge in Roanoke, Virginia granted full habeas corpus relief in Hash’s capital murder case based on the “outrageous misconduct” of Culpeper law enforcement officials.

More than a decade ago, Hash, just 19 years old at the time, was convicted of capital murder in Culpeper County and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. No physical evidence implicated Hash or the two other teenage boys charged with the crime. In turn, Hash was convicted based only on the testimony of three suspect witnesses. Hash’s direct appeals and a state habeas corpus petition were all denied, notwithstanding evidence of police and prosecutorial misconduct.

Convinced that Hash was innocent and that his trial was unfair, the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project (MAIP) and law firm Hunton & Williams took up Hash’s case. On April 15, 2010, they filed a federal petition for writ of habeas corpus in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia and undertook an investigation that revealed a pattern of misconduct on the part of Culpeper officials.

On March 14, 2012, Judge James Turk granted full federal habeas corpus relief to Hash, who is now 31 years old. MAIP’s Executive Director Shawn Armbrust, in conjunction with the team at Hunton & Williams led by partner Matthew Bosher and investigator Stanley Lapekas, proved that Hash’s conviction was based entirely on contrived, manufactured witness testimony and tainted by extensive police and prosecutorial misconduct. Such an outcome is a rare victory, and one that would likely not have been possible for Hash without the work of Hunton & Williams, which logged more than 2,000 pro bono hours on this case.

In his opinion, Judge Turk stated that “the Court finds that Hash is entitled to habeas corpus relief…[T]he Court is disturbed by the miscarriage of justice that occurred in this case and finds that Hash’s trial is an example of an extreme malfunction in the state criminal justice.” Judge Turk cited “a cavalcade of evidence demonstrating police and prosecutorial misconduct,” including:

• Orchestrating a transfer to place Mr. Hash in a prison 50 miles from Culpeper to spend one night in a cell block with a professional snitch, creating a pretext for the transfer, and then covering it up until December of 2011;
• Concealing promises to assist two prosecution witnesses in exchange for their false testimony against Hash;
• Failing to turn over critical exculpatory materials, including reports that key prosecution witnesses failed polygraph examinations; and
• Coaching prosecution witnesses.

The opinion is available at:

http://www.vawd.uscourts.gov/OPINIONS/TURK/HASH2254MEMORANDUMOPINION.PDF.

“The Court’s opinion validates what our client, his family, and his legal team have said from the beginning – that Mike Hash did not commit this crime and that the tactics used to obtain his conviction were reprehensible,” said Armbrust.

“We are thrilled that our client has finally been exonerated,” said Bosher. “There has never been any credible evidence that Mr. Hash had anything to do with this crime. He spent the last 12 years — his entire adult life — in prison for a crime he did not commit because the system completely failed him. In particular, the conduct of law enforcement officials in Culpeper was outrageous and offensive.”

Special prosecutor Morrogh’s request echos these sentiments, as does his post-hearing comment that he does not intends to recharge Hash. Morrogh further explained, “We’re taking a fresh look at this case…we’re starting from scratch and will continue until we solve it.”

More on Michael Hash’s case:

Michael Wayne Hash won’t face retrial
August 20, 2012 – ABC-7 WJLA

Decision Due on Hash Retrial
August 20, 2012 – NBC-29 WVIR-TV

Hash ready to begin life as a free man
August 20, 2012 – Richmond Times-Dispatch

Hash ‘completely free’
August 20, 2012 – Star-Exponent

DNA test under way in Hash case
April 17, 2012 – Richmond Times-Dispatch

Michael Wayne Hash Free After Judge Slams Official Misconduct in Murder Case, Tosses Life Sentence
March 16, 2012 – The Huffington Post

Misconduct in a murder investigation?
March 11, 2012 – The Washington Post

A beam of hope
March 11, 2012 – The Washington Post

As murder conviction tossed after 12 years, Va. family hopes son will be home soon
March 10, 2012 – The Washington Post

Preparing for a son’s homecoming
March 10, 2012 – The Washington Post

For Michael Wayne Hash, mother’s persistence may yield freedom
March 4, 2012 – Richmond Times-Dispatch

Verdict tossed in 1996 Culpeper slaying
March 1, 2012 – Richmond Times-Dispatch

Federal judge overturns Hash’s 2001 murder conviction
March 1, 2012 – Culpeper Star Exponent

U.S. judge overturns Culpeper capital murder conviction
February 29, 2012 – Richmond Times-Dispatch

Judge overturns man’s murder conviction in 1996 Va. killing
February 29, 2012 – Associated Press

COCKTAILS & CONVERSATION
With the legal team that helped free the West Memphis Three*
& MAIP exonerees Marvin Anderson and Thomas Haynesworth

Tuesday, July 10, 6:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Warner Theatre Building Rooftop
(Enter at 13th and E Streets, NW, ID required)

FREE admission for Young Professionals Network members.
For non-Network members, admission is $10 prior to July 10; $15 at the door.
Drinks will be provided.

To purchase your ticket to the event OR join the Young Professionals Network, please use the button below:

Cocktails and Conversation with the West Memphis Three Team

Single Ticket to Cocktails and Conversation -$10.00 USD Membership to MAIP’s Young Professionals Network + Free Ticket -$50.00 USD

*In 1994, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley, Jr. were convicted over thin evidence of three brutal child murders in West Memphis, Arkansas. The teens’ interest in heavy metal music and a Satanic panic in the community led to life sentences for two and a death sentence for one. In their 18-year fight for freedom, the West Memphis Three became an international cause célèbre, and in 2011, a team of lawyers, artists, and activists finally secured their release.

For questions, please contact Rachel Cicurel at rcicurel@exonerate.org or 202-895-4519.

Photo by the Virginia Department of Corrections

Yesterday, a federal judge in Roanoke, Virginia granted full habeas corpus relief in an innocent teen’s capital murder case based on the “outrageous misconduct” of Culpeper law enforcement officials.

More than a decade ago, Michael Wayne Hash, just 19 years old at the time, was convicted of capital murder in Culpeper County and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. No physical evidence implicated Hash or the two other teenage boys charged with the crime. In turn, Hash was convicted based only on the testimony of three suspect witnesses. Hash’s direct appeals and a state habeas corpus petition were all denied, notwithstanding evidence of police and prosecutorial misconduct.

Convinced that Hash was innocent and that his trial was unfair, the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project (MAIP) and law firm Hunton & Williams took up Hash’s case. On April 15, 2010, they filed a federal petition for writ of habeas corpus in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia and undertook an investigation that revealed a pattern of misconduct on the part of Culpeper officials.

Late Monday, Judge James Turk granted full federal habeas corpus relief to Hash, who is now 31 years old. MAIP’s Executive Director Shawn Armbrust, in conjunction with the team at Hunton & Williams led by partner Matthew Bosher and investigator Stanley Lapekas, proved that Hash’s conviction was based entirely on contrived, manufactured witness testimony and tainted by extensive police and prosecutorial misconduct. Such an outcome is a rare victory, and one that would likely not have been possible for Hash without the work of Hunton & Williams, which logged more than 2,000 pro bono hours on this case.

In his opinion, Judge Turk stated that “the Court finds that Hash is entitled to habeas corpus relief…[T]he Court is disturbed by the miscarriage of justice that occurred in this case and finds that Hash’s trial is an example of an extreme malfunction in the state criminal justice.” Judge Turk cited “a cavalcade of evidence demonstrating police and prosecutorial misconduct,” including:

• Orchestrating a transfer to place Mr. Hash in a prison 50 miles from Culpeper to spend one night in a cell block with a professional snitch, creating a pretext for the transfer, and then covering it up until December of 2011;
• Concealing promises to assist two prosecution witnesses in exchange for their false testimony against Hash;
• Failing to turn over critical exculpatory materials, including reports that key prosecution witnesses failed polygraph examinations; and
• Coaching prosecution witnesses.

The opinion is available at:
http://www.vawd.uscourts.gov/OPINIONS/TURK/HASH2254MEMORANDUMOPINION.PDF.

“The Court’s opinion validates what our client, his family, and his legal team have said from the beginning – that Mike Hash did not commit this crime and that the tactics used to obtain his conviction were reprehensible,” said Armbrust. “We trust the Culpeper authorities will now do the right thing and allow for his immediate release, so he can go home to his family as quickly as possible.

“We are thrilled that our client has finally been exonerated,” said Bosher. “There has never been any credible evidence that Mr. Hash had anything to do with this crime. He spent the last 12 years — his entire adult life — in prison for a crime he did not commit because the system completely failed him. In particular, the conduct of law enforcement officials in Culpeper was outrageous and offensive.”

More on Michael Hash’s case:

DNA test under way in Hash case
April 17, 2012 – Richmond Times-Dispatch

Michael Wayne Hash Free After Judge Slams Official Misconduct in Murder Case, Tosses Life Sentence
March 16, 2012 – The Huffington Post

Misconduct in a murder investigation?
March 11, 2012 – The Washington Post

A beam of hope
March 11, 2012 – The Washington Post

As murder conviction tossed after 12 years, Va. family hopes son will be home soon
March 10, 2012 – The Washington Post

Preparing for a son’s homecoming
March 10, 2012 – The Washington Post

For Michael Wayne Hash, mother’s persistence may yield freedom
March 4, 2012 – Richmond Times-Dispatch

Verdict tossed in 1996 Culpeper slaying
March 1, 2012 – Richmond Times-Dispatch

Federal judge overturns Hash’s 2001 murder conviction
March 1, 2012 – Culpeper Star Exponent

U.S. judge overturns Culpeper capital murder conviction
February 29, 2012 – Richmond Times-Dispatch

Judge overturns man’s murder conviction in 1996 Va. killing
February 29, 2012 – Associated Press

She will also be joined by Death Row Exoneree Kirk Bloodsworth, who spent nine years in jail for a crime he did not commit and was the first American to be exonerated from Death Row by post-conviction DNA evidence.

March 1 – 12:00 p.m.
American University
Washington College of Law – Room 603
4801 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC

11:45-Noon: Lunch Served
Noon: Death Row Exoneree Kirk Bloodsworth
12:30-1:30: Sister Helen Prejean
1:30-2:00: Reception and Book signing

This will be an amazing opportunity to hear from an unyielding activist
against the Death Penalty. The event is free & open to the public.
http://www.wcl.american.edu/secle/founders/2012/20120301.cfm

To learn more about Mr. Barbour’s story, please see this morning’s stories at the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

Case raises questions of effort

New DNA test could exonerate man convicted of 1978 rape

In 2009, when Braga joined Echol’s legal team and took the lead on the WMT efforts, the case seemed to be at a standstill. However, in order to recognize unwavering pushback by the prosecutors and still secure relief for Echols and his co-defendants, Braga found what he deemed to be a legal compromise. As he explained to the National Law Journal: ‘”What is the middle ground between insistence on guilt by the prosecutors and insistence on innocence by the defendants?” He concluded: “The thing that seemed logical, the only safe harbor, was the Alford plea.”‘

His efforts were successful. After entering their Alford pleas, each of the defendants’ sentences were deemed as time served, and finally, the West Memphis Three were released from prison on August 19, 2011.

Click here to read the National Law Journal’s article: Defender found the audacity to end a stalemate or see the full Pro Bono Hotlist.

This is only the Second Time a Virginia Court Has Granted a Writ of Actual Innocence Based on Non DNA Evidence

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 6, 2011

CONTACTS: 
Paul Cates, 212/364-5346, cell 917/566-1294, pcates@innocenceproject.org
Shawn Armbrust, 773/ 562-9020, sarmbrust@exonerate.org
Alana Salzberg, 212/364-5983, asalzberg@innocenceproject.org

(Richmond, VA; December 6, 2011) —  The Virginia Court of Appeals today exonerated Thomas Haynesworth of a series of sexual assaults that occurred in 1984 that DNA and other evidence now prove were committed by the self-proclaimed “Black Ninja” rapist. Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and Richmond Commonwealth Attorney Michael Herring and Henrico Commonwealth Attorney Wade Kizer, joined the Innocence Project, the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project and Hogan Lovells US LLP in seeking the writ of actual innocence for non-biological evidence that was granted by the court today. Haynesworth, who was released to parole in March thanks to intervention by Gov. Bob McDonnell, served nearly 27 years in prison for the sexual assaults and has had to register as a sex offender and abide by strict conditions of parole since his release.     

“This day was a long time coming for Mr. Haynesworth and his family,” said Shawn Armbrust, Executive Director of the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project. “After serving nearly 27 years for crimes that he didn’t commit, Mr. Haynesworth has had to register as a sex offender and abide by degrading conditions while the Court of Appeals took nearly nine months to conclude that the Attorney General and the prosecutors were right that Mr. Haynesworth didn’t commit these crimes.” 

Peter Neufeld, Co-Director of the Innocence Project added, “This is the first time in America where the Attorney General and two local prosecutors joined us in seeking an exoneration, yet it nevertheless took nine months, two trips to the Court of Appeals, and six judges to secure relief that was obvious to everyone.”

Today’s decision, which was decided 6-4, marks only the second time that a Virginia court has exonerated someone through a writ of actual innocence for non-biological evidence.  Unlike this case where the decision was based on factual evidence of innocence, the first case was decided on legal reasoning.  (The court concluded that the gun in question in that case was not a gun under the law.)   

“This case is yet another tragic example of misidentification, which occurs far too often, especially in cross-racial crimes,” said Olga Akselrod, a Staff Attorney with the Innocence Project, which is affiliated with the Cardozo School of Law.  “Fortunately the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services has developed a new model policy for police identification procedures that would go a long way toward preventing this type of injustice, and we urge the legislature to adopt this policy for all police department statewide.” 

Between January 3 and February 1, 1984, five white women were the victims of rapes or attempted rapes by a young black male in the East End of Richmond, a small area overlapping both the City of Richmond and Henrico County.  Haynesworth, an 18-year-old Richmond resident with no prior record, was arrested February 5, 1984, after one of the victims identified him.  The other four victims later picked his photo out of a photo array. Haynesworth was eventually convicted for crimes that occurred on January 3, January 30 and February 1, 1984 and sentenced to 36 years in prison.  He was acquitted of a crime that occurred on January 21, and the charges were dropped in a January 27 incident. 

Rapes in the same general area continued throughout 1984 after Haynesworth was arrested, with more than 10 young white women being attacked by a young black male who began to refer to himself to his victims as the “Black Ninja.”  On December 19, police arrested Leon Davis, who was charged with about a dozen rapes that took place during the last nine months of 1984. Davis was eventually convicted of at least three of those crimes and sentenced to multiple life terms. 

After Gov. Mark Warner ordered a review of cases between 1973 and 1988, it was discovered that the semen recovered from the victim of Haynesworth’s January 3 rape conviction matched Davis, not Haynesworth.  With this knowledge, Haynesworth’s legal team reached out to the Richmond and Henrico Commonwealth’s Attorneys to review Haynesworth’s other convictions.  While there was no physical evidence for his two remaining convictions, DNA testing proved that Davis was also the perpetrator in the case for which he was acquitted.

The Richmond and Henrico Commonwealth’s Attorneys conducted an extensive investigation and eventually concluded that Davis, not Haynesworth, was responsible for the other two crimes.  These crimes matched the same modus operandi as the other rapes committed by Davis.  Haynesworth also passed polygraph tests about both of the cases that were administered in the presence of the respective Commonwealth’s Attorneys. 

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli also conducted an investigation and joined in Haynesworth’s petition for a writ of actual innocence for non-biological evidence.  The case was argued before a three member panel of the Court of Appeals on March 30, 2011.  In an unusual move, the panel ruled in July that it would not issue a decision but would instead send the case to be heard before the full Court of Appeals.  The full court heard arguments on September 27, 2011 and issued its ruling today.

A timeline of the case is available. 

In addition to the lawyers listed above, the legal team includes Hogan Lovells US LLP partner Ellen Kennedy and associates Thomas Widor and Aaron George.       

##