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.       

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The Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project is proud to be part of the Catalogue for Philanthropy: Greater Washington. Each year some 250 organizations apply to be featured and undergo a rigorous vetting process. This year a panel of 100 expert reviewers from area foundations, corporate giving programs, giving circles, and peer nonprofits participated in the process, and this year’s 70 nonprofits were selected. All 350 organizations (including ours!) can be viewed online at the Catalogue’s website, http://www.cfp-dc.org — where donations can also be made.

According to Barbara Harman, President and Editor of the Catalogue for Philanthropy: Greater Washington, “We know that many nonprofits have had a very difficult year. For most, contributions are flat or down, and the decrease or loss of foundation and government funding has created significant budgetary challenges. Individual donors can make a real difference this year, keeping great organizations afloat during these tough times.”

Though MAIP has just recently become a part of the Catalogue for Philanthropy, we know it will help enable us to reach out to individuals in the region who would otherwise not hear our story. Since its inception in 2003, the Catalogue has helped raise over $12.5 million dollars for local non-profit organizations. The 2010-11 Catalogues have just been sent out, and if you haven’t received one, you can request a catalogue online: they’re free. The Catalogue’s website went live with the newly featured nonprofits on November 8th. Special features of the site include a gift registry, gift cards, a section especially for kids, and even a “donate now/decide later” fund that lets donors give in December and make their choices in January. Links on nonprofit profile pages connect donors with volunteer opportunities, events, news, videos, and more. According to Harman, “the new Catalogue website is the broadest and deepest regional philanthropy website in the country.” We’re proud to be featured on it.

MAIP is also proud to be called “one of the best,” and we hope you’ll view our online profile and help spread the word about the Catalogue so that together we can deepen the culture of giving in our nation’s capital.

Donate Now at the Catalogue for Philanthropy

However, the article in Sunday’s Times not only outlines Mr. Haynesworth’s current situation but also the road ahead. Tomorrow morning, MAIP’s Executive Director Shawn Armbrust will continue to fight for Mr. Haynesworth’s full exoneration during her oral argument before the en banc Virginia Court of Appeals. The oral argument is open to the public and will take place at 9 :00 a.m. at the Virginia Supreme Court, which is located 100 N. 9th Street in Richmond, VA.

To read the full article, please see http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/25/us/man-cleared-of-rapes-but-a-court-balks-at-full-exoneration.html. Additionally, click here to learn more about the progression of Mr. Haynesworth’s case.

However, for those of you who missed it, please see the following stories from NPR and the Richmond Times-Dispatch to learn more about Thomas Haynesworth’s presentation of awards to the public officials who helped him gain his freedom:

http://wamu.org/news/11/07/20/cuccinelli_joins_wrongfully_convicted_va_man_at_innocence_project_luncheon.php

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/news/2011/jul/21/tdmet01-prosecutors-recognized-for-haynesworth-exo-ar-1186211/

July 20, 2011
Ritz Carlton, Washington, DC

To purchase a ticket, please use the PayPal feature below or send a check to:

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

PayPal accepts all major credit cards.

The Decade Society [includes a full table of 10 tickets] – $10,000.00 Champion of Justice [includes a full table of 10 tickets] – $5,000.00 Defender of Innocence [includes 5 tickets] – $2,500.00 Advocate [includes 2 tickets] – $1,000.00 Single Ticket – $100.00

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

By supporting this exciting event, you’ll be honoring Thomas’s efforts to rebuild his life, nearly three decades later.

Sponsorship Categories

The Decade Society - $10,000:
• A full table (10 tickets) at the event
• 2 tickets to a MAIP event with David Simon, Founder of the HBO series The Wire
• A full-page program advertisement with prime placement
• Acknowledgement from the podium during the event
• Acknowledgement in the invitation
• Premier event signage and recognition
• Year-long premier recognition on the MAIP website

Champion of Justice – $5,000:
• A full table (10 tickets) at the event
• A full-page program advertisement
• Acknowledgement in the invitation
• Event signage honoring our most generous donors
• Year-long recognition on the MAIP website

Defender of Innocence – $2,500:
• 5 tickets to the event
• A quarter-page program advertisement
• Event signage recognition
• Acknowledgement in the invitation

Advocate – $1,000:
• 2 tickets to the event
• Event signage recognition

Single Ticket – $100

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

Get up to speed on Mr. Haynesworth’s case!

The Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project (MAIP) is a small non-profit corporation dedicated to the correction and prevention of wrongful convictions in District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia.  MAIP is seeking a full-time Staff Investigator with experience in criminal investigation and a demonstrated passion for social justice issues.

Working under the supervision of MAIP’s Executive Director, the Staff Investigator will be responsible for overseeing and/or directly conducting the investigation of cases involving prisoners who have written to MAIP claiming to be innocent of the crimes for which they are serving sentences.

MAIP’s Staff Investigator will provide guidance to MAIP attorneys and law students on investigative techniques and strategies, including advice on the best investigative strategies for individual cases in order to further MAIP’s goal of identifying potentially viable innocence claims.  Working with minimal direct supervision, the investigator will then either execute or help students execute these strategies.

Specific duties will include:

– reviewing case files and interviewing defendants in an effort to gather more information about their cases;

– gathering documents in cases where the defendant cannot provide them;

– performing research in public or specialized databases in order to locate witnesses or gather background information about a case;

– corresponding with courthouse or law enforcement personnel in an effort to locate evidence from cases of interest;

– conducting witness interviews in cases at the screening, investigation, or litigation stage of MAIP’s process;

– and performing other duties as assigned.

The Staff Investigator will advise a legal staff of three attorneys and coordinate the supervision of approximately 50 law student volunteers each year.  MAIP as an organization receives approximately 600 new requests for help every year, and provides some level of investigative assistance in approximately one quarter of these cases.

Qualified applicants will possess excellent investigative and interviewing skills; a valid driver’s license; a good driving record; an understanding of criminal law, criminal procedure, and evidence; good judgment; and an ability to prepare concise and accurate written and oral reports of investigative findings.   Prior criminal investigative experience, in either law enforcement or criminal defense, is preferred.  Other necessary characteristics include: strong organizational skills; the ability to juggle multiple tasks; the ability to work independently; and the ability to communicate with a diverse group of people, including prisoners, law enforcement officers, and attorneys.

The position will require significant travel throughout Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia.  It also requires flexibility in work schedule, as occasional evenings and weekends will be required.

Salary: Commensurate with experience.

Education: Bachelor’s Degree (B.S, B.A., or equivalent)

Application Deadline: February 1, 2011.

To apply, please send a cover letter, resume, and three references via mail or email to:

Elizabeth Raman, Assistant Director
Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project
4801 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, D.C. 20016
ERaman@exonerate.org