Inclusion Daily Express -- Errors In Earl Washington Case Prompt Restructure Of Virginia DNA Lab

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Errors In Earl Washington Case Prompt Restructure Of Virginia DNA Lab
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
June 2, 2005

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA--The Virginia Division of Forensic Science will become its own state department in an effort to correct a number of DNA-related problems identified in a recent independent audit.

The six-month review revealed that the forensics lab violated its own rules in handling DNA testing in the case of Earl Washington, Jr. Those errors led the lab to reach an incorrect conclusion regarding DNA found at the scene of the crime for which Washington was convicted and sentenced to die.

According to the Associated Press, the new forensics department will report its workload and budget needs directly to the General Assembly. The restructuring is expected to increase oversight of the lab while helping it gain the funding it needs to reduce its current backlog of DNA cases.

Washington, who is described in the media as having brain damage and an IQ of 69, was sentenced to the death penalty after confessing to the 1982 rape and murder or Rebecca Lynn Williams. He came within a few days of execution in 1993 before questions about the evidence cast enough doubt into his guilt that then-Governor L. Douglas Wilder commuted his sentence to life in prison. In February 2001, further DNA analysis caused then-Governor Jim Gilmore to pardon Washington and order his release.

Washington is now married and lives in Virginia Beach.

Washington is suing police, accusing them of asking him leading questions and pressuring him to confess. His attorneys pointed out several inconsistencies in the confession, including the fact that Washington stated that 19-year-old Williams was black, that he stabbed her twice, and that they were alone when he killed her. The white woman was actually stabbed 38 times in front of two of her children.

Washington is also trying to get the Virginia State Police to remove him as a suspect in the case, even though DNA evidence gathered at the crime scene has pointed to Kenneth W. Tinsley, who is behind bars serving two life terms for an unrelated rape. Tinsley has not been charged in the Williams case.

Earlier this month, Governor Mark Warner ordered a review of more than 150 other cases involving DNA analysis at the lab. The reviews could call into question the convictions of dozens of inmates, including several currently on death row.

Related:
"State takes steps to protect the innocent" (Fauquier Times-Democrat)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/05/red/0601e.htm
"Come July, state forensics lab to break from division" (Associated Press via WSLS)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/05/red/0601f.htm
"Earl Washington, Jr." (Inclusion Daily Express Archives)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/laws/earlwashington.htm

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