And yet another wrongly maligned prosecutor is exonerated.
AP reports from Manassas, Virginia:
AP reports from Manassas, Virginia:
For much of the last 15 years, Justin Wolfe was both a death row inmate and a cause célèbre. His supporters, as well as a federal judge who heard his appeal, believed he was a victim of malicious prosecutors who covered up the truth in an effort to execute an innocent man.
Now Wolfe's 15-year legal saga -- which at one point had him days from execution and later on the brink of total exoneration and freedom -- has concluded with a 41-year prison sentence and an admission that prosecutors had it right all along.* * *After years of denying responsibility for the 2001 murder of Daniel Petrole, Wolfe on Wednesday apologized to Petrole's family in a packed Manassas courtroom.
Wolfe's first conviction and sentence were overturned on federal habeas corpus.
Note that at one point the federal district court had not only overturned the judgment but also barred a retrial. If that erroneous judgment had not been reversed by the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, a murderer we now know to be stone-cold guilty would have qualified for the so-called "Innocence List."
For the retrial, Prince William County Commonwealth's Attorney Paul Ebert recused himself, and Fairfax County prosecutor Ray Morrogh was brought in.Thanks to Josh Marquis for the tip.
Morrogh re-investigated the case and found implausible some of the defense theories that implicated a third person. He secured a plea deal that took the death penalty off the table, but included a requirement sought by the Petrole family requiring Wolfe to admit in his own words what he did.* * *Morrogh said the case wrongly impugned the ethics of Ebert, who has been commonwealth's attorney in Prince William County for nearly 50 years. Morrogh said it was Wolfe's appellate lawyers at the Innocence Project who acted irresponsibly.
"It's sad that they tried to put the blame (for Petrole's death) on an innocent person," Morrogh said of Wolfe's appellate lawyers. "This defense was concocted in the imagination of some law students."
* * *
[Daniel Petrole's father] said he has forgiven Wolfe and is grateful he finally confessed, but said the years of lies about Wolfe's innocence took a toll.
"We had to listen ... to all this talk about 'poor Justin,'" he said. "It's just a continuing hurt."
Note that at one point the federal district court had not only overturned the judgment but also barred a retrial. If that erroneous judgment had not been reversed by the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, a murderer we now know to be stone-cold guilty would have qualified for the so-called "Innocence List."
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