Earl Washington

Earl Washington, Jr. (born c. 1961), who has an IQ of 69, was arrested on charges of burglary, attempted rape, and malicious wounding in Fauquier County, Virginia. After 2 days of questioning, police announced that he had confessed to 5 different crimes including the murder of Rebecca Lynn Williams. Of the five confessions, four were dismissed because of the inconsistencies of the testimony and the inability of the victims to identify Washington. In the remaining confession, Washington said that he raped and killed Williams. That crime occurred in Culpeper, Virginia in June 1982.

Questioning revealed that Washington did not know the race of his victim, the address of the apartment where she was killed, or that he had raped her. Washington also testified that Ms. Williams had been short when in fact she was 5'8", that he had stabbed her two or three times when the victim showed thirty-eight stab wounds, and that there was no one else in the apartment when it was known that her two young children were with her. Washington said he kicked in her door, but her door was undamaged. Only on the fourth attempt at a rehearsed confession, did authorities accept Washington's statement and have it recorded in writing with Washington's signature. He only picked out the scene of the crime after being taken there three times in one afternoon by the police, who in the end had to help him pick out Williams' apartment.

At trial, the confession proved to be the prosecution's only evidence linking Washington to the crime. The defense failed to point out the inconsistencies of the prosecution's case, especially the results of the Commonwealth's own serological analysis of the seminal fluid found at the scene of the crime, which did not match Washington. It also failed to inform the jury of Washington's other false confessions. Washington was convicted and sentenced to death. He came within 9 days of execution when a New York law firm picked up his case pro bono.

In 1993, DNA evidence indicated that he was not responsible for the crime. Virginia law barred the introduction of new evidence so he had no redress though the courts. Shortly before his scheduled execution, he was granted clemency by Virginia's governor, who commuted his sentence to life in prison. Later on, after more accurate DNA testing strengthened the case for his innocence, he received a full pardon in the Williams case. After completing his sentence for the incident in Fauquier County, Washington was released from prison. Washington was represented by attorney Gerald Zerkin.

Washington's case was featured on "Frontline" and is the subject of a book, "The Expendable Man: The Near-Execution of Earl Washington, Jr." by Margaret Edds.

References

* [http://innocenceproject.org/Content/282.php Innocence Project]
* [http://truthinjustice.org/dna18.htm Richmond Times-Dispatch]
* [http://www.thejusticeproject.org/problem/cases/earl-washington-jr.html The Justice Project]