Inclusion Daily Express -- Former Death Row Inmate Receives Record Jury Award Over Forced Murder Confession

Inclusion Daily Express Logo

International Disability Rights News Service
Click here for today's headlines & home page

Keeping advocates informed, inspired and connected since 1999.
Click here for daily or weekly delivery . . . OR
Try Inclusion Daily Express for ten days FREE . . .

Former Death Row Inmate Receives Record Jury Award Over Forced Murder Confession
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
May 5, 2006

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA--After spending nine years on death row, Earl Washington, Jr. got his first real taste of justice Friday afternoon: A jury awarded the former death-row inmate $2.25 million upon finding that a state police investigator fabricated evidence leading Washington to confess to a rape and murder that he did not commit.

"I feel great. I'm happy," Washington told reporters after the verdict was read.

Washington's attorneys told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that they believe the amount is the largest civil-rights award granted to any individual in the state's history.

The verdict in the civil trial came after two weeks of testimony and less than two days of jury deliberation.

Washington spent nearly 18 years in prison after being convicted in the 1982 rape and stabbing death of Rebecca Lynn Williams. He came within 9 days of execution in 1985 before an attorney volunteered to represent him.

DNA tests done on evidence gathered at the scene of the crime led one governor to commute Washington's death sentence to life in prison in 1994, and another governor to pardon him and order his release in 2001.

Washington's attorneys told the nine-member jury that during a May 22, 1983 interrogation, Virginia State Police Special Agent Curtis Reese Wilmore manipulated Washington by feeding him details that only investigators and the murderer knew about, and asking leading questions about the murder case that had gone unsolved for nearly a year.

Experts testified that Washington, who has been described as having mild mental retardation caused by an early childhood brain injury, was easily pressured into confessing to the crime.

The confession was the primary evidence used to convict Washington, even though it contained several inconsistencies. For example, Washington stated that the 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 testified on Wednesday that he still has nightmares about the Virginia electric chair, which he could hear being tested as he sat in his death row cell a short distance from it. He said he was forced to walk by the death chamber on his way to see visitors.

"I dream about being executed," he told the court.

On Tuesday, a psychologist told the jury that Washington has a severe case of post-traumatic stress disorder, and will likely experience flashbacks for the rest of his life.

Washington was represented by Peter Neufeld, who founded the Innocence Project with famous O.J. Simpson attorney Barry Scheck. The project has used DNA technology to help clear more than 130 people of crimes of which they were wrongly convicted.

"I hope that this decision will send out a call to the people of Virginia . . . that they'll pause next time and appreciate just how vulnerable this system is that could send an innocent person to within nine days of his execution," Neufeld said.

Neufeld has also called on the state to require all police interrogations to be tape-recorded.

The jury award will likely not come from the estate of Officer Wilmore, who died in 1994, but from insurance or the state's Division of Risk Management. As of Friday afternoon, the state attorney general's office had not announced whether it would file an appeal.

Even though Washington was pardoned and cannot be retried for the crime, and DNA evidence has pointed to another man already serving life in prison for rape, his name has not been removed from the list of suspects in William's murder investigation.

Washington celebrated his 46th birthday on Wednesday. He and his wife celebrated their fourth wedding anniversary on Thursday.

Related:
"$2.25 million verdict for Washington in false confession" (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/06/red/0505a.htm
"Earl Washington events timeline" (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/06/red/0505b.htm
"Trauma persists, ex-inmate testifies" (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/06/red/0505c.htm
"Case centers on agent with high reputation" (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/06/red/0505d.htm
"Kangaroo court for Earl Washington" (Virginian-Pilot)
http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=103758&ran=75238
"Earl Washington, Jr." (Inclusion Daily Express Archives)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/laws/earlwashington.htm

Click here for top of this page

Purchase this story for your website or newsletter . . .

Here's what subscribers say about Inclusion Daily Express. . .

Keeping advocates informed, inspired and connected since 1999.
Click here for daily or weekly delivery . . . OR
Try Inclusion Daily Express for ten days FREE . . .

Get your news here!