In 2009, Haynesworth, 46, was the first man exonerated by the Virginia Supreme Court in a writ of actual innocence based on DNA. He has asked the Virginia Court of Appeals for exoneration in two other cases for which no evidence remains for testing.
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and the commonwealth's attorneys in Henrico County and Richmond believe he is innocent and are supporting his petition in the appeals court.
Meanwhile, he has been paroled and started a job last week at Cuccinelli's office as an office technician, working in the mailroom and supply room.
Brian J. Gottstein, a Cuccinelli spokesman, said Cuccinelli sent out a notice to the staff when Haynesworth started, stating the reason for hiring him:
"In the OAG, we have an obligation to see that justice is done in every case, regardless of which side of the courtroom that justice may fall. Here, unlike the vast majority of cases handled by this office, our duty was not to defend a defendant's conviction, but to prove his innocence. Justice demanded it......"
REPORTER FRANK GREEN; TIMES-DISPATCH;
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"The injustices just keep on coming for exonerated death row inmate Anthony Graves, freed last year after 18 years' imprisonment for a 1994 capital murder conviction produced by false testimony and prosecutorial misconduct.
"After his release, the Texas Comptroller's Office refused to pay the 45-year-old Graves $80,000 per year of wrongful imprisonment compensation because a judge neglected to put the magic words "actual innocence" in the order dismissing charges against him," the story continues.
"Gov. Rick Perry and special prosecutor Kelly Siegler, who helped exonerate Graves, have both acknowledged that he's innocent. But a spokesperson for Comptroller Susan Combs claimed her office did not have the authority to approve the payment. Graves is now suing the state to collect the money.
As the Chronicle's Harvey Rice reports, the Texas Attorney General's Office also is garnisheeing $175 a month from the former inmate's salary as a legal investigator for nearly $5,500 the state claims he owes in back child support while he was behind bars.
The state also seized a $250 honorarium that Graves was to be paid for a presentation to political science students at Prairie View A&M University about his prison ordeal.
"The state of Texas tried to kill me for something I didn't do, and now they are trying to get child support out of me," Graves told Rice. "I feel powerless."
According to a spokesperson for Attorney General Greg Abbott, because a judge ordered then-prisoner Graves to pay the child support in 2002, the AG's office has a legal obligation to collect the money. He did express sympathy for Graves, adding, "his experience is truly troubling and deeply compelling."
EDITORIAL; HOUSTON CHRONICLE;
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: A newspaper story and an editorial published on the same day starkly bring out the best and worse of America's criminal justice system. The best is represented by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's principled position in the Thomas Haynesworth case, as reported by Frank Green in the Times Dispatch. Cucinelli has not only backed Haynesworth's bid for exoneration but has offered Haynesworth a job in his office while he awaits the Court's decision. As depicted in the Houston Chronicle editorial, the worse is represented by the State of Texas's administration of yet "another turn of the screw" to Anthony Graves. If it wasn't enough to deny him compensation for compensation for his 18-year wrongful imprisonment on a technicality, Texas is now garnisheeing his wages - and forcing him to go to court - for back child support apparently incurred while he was behind bars. Virginia's justice system is clearly headed by someone who embodies the spirit of justice. Texas? Well. I guess that's another story. And a very sad one at that.
HAROLD LEVY; PUBLISHER; THE CHARLES SMITH BLOG.
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"Thomas E. Haynesworth is working in the Virginia attorney general's office as he awaits the outcome of his bid for exoneration in two remaining 1984 rape convictions"," the Times-Dispatch story by reporter Frank Green published on April 29, 2011 begins, under the heading 000
"In 2009, Haynesworth, 46, was the first man exonerated by the Virginia Supreme Court in a writ of actual innocence based on DNA. He has asked the Virginia Court of Appeals for exoneration in two other cases for which no evidence remains for testing," the story continues.
"Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and the commonwealth's attorneys in Henrico County and Richmond believe he is innocent and are supporting his petition in the appeals court.
Meanwhile, he has been paroled and started a job last week at Cuccinelli's office as an office technician, working in the mailroom and supply room.
Brian J. Gottstein, a Cuccinelli spokesman, said Cuccinelli sent out a notice to the staff when Haynesworth started, stating the reason for hiring him:
"In the OAG, we have an obligation to see that justice is done in every case, regardless of which side of the courtroom that justice may fall. Here, unlike the vast majority of cases handled by this office, our duty was not to defend a defendant's conviction, but to prove his innocence. Justice demanded it.
And although we can never restore the 27 years of freedom that Thomas lost, we in this office — as representatives of the commonwealth — have an opportunity to give something back to him: a job and a chance to start rebuilding his life."
Haynesworth was 18 years old when he was arrested and convicted of various crimes in a series of rapes and other attacks on five women that occurred in early 1984 in Richmond's East End and eastern Henrico County.
Five women identified him as their assailant. He was convicted in three attacks, one case was not prosecuted and he was acquitted in another.
Authorities now believe the assaults were committed by Leon W. Davis Jr., 47, a rapist serving life in prison for other assaults. DNA testing in 2009 and again last year proved at least two of the five victims mistook Haynesworth for Davis.
The other DNA testing implicating Davis was in the case for which Haynesworth was acquitted. Extensive searches by his lawyers and authorities failed to find any evidence for DNA testing in his remaining cases now before the appeals court."
The story can be found at:
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/local-news/2011/apr/29/tdmet01-thomas-haynesworth-has-job-at-the-office-o-ar-1004225/
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"The injustices just keep on coming for exonerated death row inmate Anthony Graves, freed last year after 18 years' imprisonment for a 1994 capital murder conviction produced by false testimony and prosecutorial misconduct," the Houston Chronicle editorial also published on April 29, 2011 begins, under the heading, "The state of Texas administers another turn of the screw to Anthony Graves."
"After his release, the Texas Comptroller's Office refused to pay the 45-year-old Graves $80,000 per year of wrongful imprisonment compensation because a judge neglected to put the magic words "actual innocence" in the order dismissing charges against him," the story continues.
"Gov. Rick Perry and special prosecutor Kelly Siegler, who helped exonerate Graves, have both acknowledged that he's innocent. But a spokesperson for Comptroller Susan Combs claimed her office did not have the authority to approve the payment. Graves is now suing the state to collect the money.
As the Chronicle's Harvey Rice reports, the Texas Attorney General's Office also is garnisheeing $175 a month from the former inmate's salary as a legal investigator for nearly $5,500 the state claims he owes in back child support while he was behind bars.
The state also seized a $250 honorarium that Graves was to be paid for a presentation to political science students at Prairie View A&M University about his prison ordeal.
"The state of Texas tried to kill me for something I didn't do, and now they are trying to get child support out of me," Graves told Rice. "I feel powerless."
According to a spokesperson for Attorney General Greg Abbott, because a judge ordered then-prisoner Graves to pay the child support in 2002, the AG's office has a legal obligation to collect the money. He did express sympathy for Graves, adding, "his experience is truly troubling and deeply compelling."
Obviously not troubling or compelling enough for the governor, the comptroller and the attorney general to get their heads together and try to cut through the bureaucratic red tape and remedy the continuing effects of a truly horrible miscarriage of justice.
The state took away Graves' freedom for much of his adult life, dismissed on a technicality the compensation owed him by law, and now bills him for the consequences of his wrongful imprisonment. It's a truly sickening situation.
Where there's a will to right an injustice, the most powerful officials in the state must find a way. If they had real sympathy for what this man has suffered, they'd promptly set things right."
The editorial can be found at:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/7544156.html
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
For a breakdown of some of the cases, issues and controversies this Blog is currently following, please turn to:
http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=120008354894645705&postID=8369513443994476774
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;
