Prosecutor's Statement Questioned
Prosecutor's Statement Questioned
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BY FRANK GREEN
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Dec 13, 2006
Days after DNA testing first cast doubt on Earl Washington Jr.'s guilt, his lawyers say the man who prosecuted him lied to authorities to try to preserve Washington's death sentence.
They claim that in 1993, former Culpeper Commonwealth's Attorney John C. Bennett falsely said he witnessed Washington confess to the 1982 murder of Rebecca Lynn Williams in Culpeper.
Bennett, now in private practice, has denied under oath doing so. But there is contrary evidence from Virginia Deputy Attorney General John H. McLees Jr., who testified about Bennett in April in a federal suit filed by Washington for his wrongful prosecution.
In May, after Washington won a $2.25 million jury verdict in the case, his lawyers said they were considering taking action against Bennett.
They argued that Bennett's alleged attempt to rescue a death sentence slipping away because of DNA testing was even more egregious than the fabrication of evidence by police that wrongly sent Washington to death row in the first place.
The official transcript of that trial, with the testimony of McLees and Bennett, was filed in federal court in Charlottesville Dec. 1.
Peter Neufeld, one of Washington's lawyers, suggested to Bennett during the trial that his actions could cause him to lose his license or face other discipline from the Virginia State Bar. But Thursday, Neufeld would not comment when.....
Prosecutor's Statement Questioned
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