Earl Washington Jr., a mildly mentally retarded man who was nearly executed in Virginia for a rape and murder he did not commit, walked out of prison six years ago after he was exonerated by DNA evidence. This week, Virginia officially declared him innocent.
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) issued an absolute pardon, which acknowledges that Washington was wrongly convicted of capital murder and rape. In the three-page pardon, Kaine said DNA evidence and the recent conviction of another man in the 1982 slaying provide conclusive proof that Washington had no connection to the crime.
"It is now evident that Mr. Washington was and is innocent," Kaine wrote.
For several years after the DNA cleared him and pointed to the other man, the special prosecutor in the case still insisted that Washington was a suspect.
Washington's story, which helped spark changes in Virginia's criminal justice system, has long been considered one of the nation's most troubling instances of a wrongful conviction. He came within days of execution.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/06/AR2007070602051.htmlFrankly, I'd like to see that prosecutor put in prison in Washington's place.