"The men, all four of them sailors with clean criminal records, were convicted on the basis of confessions won by a Norfolk police detective, Robert Glenn Ford, who has since been convicted of corruption. They gave accounts that conflicted with each other, drew in other people who had absolutely no involvement in the case and included details that were inconsistent with physical evidence.
Fingerprints, blood, semen and hair at the scene pointed exclusively to another man, Omar A. Ballard. He later admitted to the crime. He's serving life in prison........
The issue A prosecutor drops charges against one of the Norfolk Four.
Where we stand It’s time to clear the names of the other three."
EDITORIAL: THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT; (Wikipedia informs us that, "The Virginian-Pilot (commonly called "The Pilot") is a daily newspaper based in Norfolk, Virginia, and serving the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, southeastern Virginia, the Eastern Shore of Virginia, and northeastern North Carolina. The flagship property of Landmark Media Enterprises, The Pilot is Virginia's largest daily metro paper."
SEE THE ENTIRE OUTFRONT EXPOSEE AT:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/the-confessions/
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BACKGROUND: (FROM FRONTLINE); "(Derek) Tice's complicated road to exoneration was profiled in our November 2010 film The Confessions, which investigated the problematic way Tice's case -- and the cases of three other men, a group known as the "Norfolk Four" -- were handled by Virginia's justice system. All four Navy men underwent long interrogations before breaking under pressure, admitting they took part in Moore-Bosko's violent death. It wasn't until 1999, after the Norfolk Four were incarcerated, that another inmate named Omar Ballard confessed that he committed the crime alone. Ballard's DNA matched evidence found at the scene of Moore-Bosko's death, while no physical evidence could connect the Norfolk Four to the crime. "It's a victory for me, but there's still three other guys," Tice said upon hearing the news. (He was officially freed early in August 2011 after two felony charges were dropped against him) The guys, Joe Dick Jr., Eric Wilson and Danial Williams, have all filed appeals to the Virginia Supreme Court after a lower court dismissed earlier petitions in March."
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"Derek Tice never should've been tried for - let alone convicted of - rape and murder," the Virginian-Pilot editorial published on August 5, 2011 under the heading, "A partial step toward justice," begins.
"On Thursday, the prosecutor who put him in prison finally confirmed as much, telling the judge that he lacked the evidence to support rape and murder charges against Tice in the 1997 death of Michelle Moore-Bosko," the story continues.
"The admission was long overdue. For years, a growing number of attorneys, investigators and other officials have come to the disturbing conclusion that Tice and three other men - Danial Williams, Joseph Dick and Eric C. Wilson - were wrongfully convicted in the case.
The men, all four of them sailors with clean criminal records, were convicted on the basis of confessions won by a Norfolk police detective, Robert Glenn Ford, who has since been convicted of corruption. They gave accounts that conflicted with each other, drew in other people who had absolutely no involvement in the case and included details that were inconsistent with physical evidence.
Fingerprints, blood, semen and hair at the scene pointed exclusively to another man, Omar A. Ballard. He later admitted to the crime. He's serving life in prison.
In 2009, then-Gov. Timothy M. Kaine cited those findings and others when he ordered that Tice, Williams and Dick be released from state prison. Wilson already had been released after serving 8-1/2 years.
But the conditional pardon didn't exonerate the Norfolk Four. Tice, like the others, has been on probation and required to register as a sex offender. He moved in with his parents in North Carolina and took a job washing windows on high-rise buildings. Williams wears an electronic monitoring bracelet and moved to Michigan, where he, too, lives with his parents.
Their legal struggles continued, with each filing appeals in state and federal courts to have their names cleared. In April, Tice won an appeal, and a federal court ordered prosecutors to decide whether to drop the charges or retry the case.
Which is what led prosecutor D.J. Hansen on Thursday to finally do what should've been done years ago: Ask that charges against Tice be dropped.
The judge obliged.
As welcome as the move was, more must be done. The other three - Williams, Dick and Wilson - remain dogged by convictions for crimes that they never committed. They are unable to move on with their lives, despite an overwhelming consensus that they should be able to do so.
The cases against each are virtually the same as the one against Tice. The outcome should be the same, too."
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The story can be found at:
http://hamptonroads.com/2011/08/partial-step-toward-justice
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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
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;
