Earl Washington Jr’s Case – An Example To The Flaws In US Criminal Justice System

Introduction

There are thousands of innocent men and women in prison today that have fallen victim to the criminal justice system. Numerous factors lead to these wrongful convictions such as lack of proper legal assistance, forensic error, procedural error etc. In 1984, Earl Washington Jr. , a black man, age twenty-two with an IQ of 69 (10 yrs. old age) was convicted of a horrific crime that he didn’t commit and this is due to numerous factors as recently stated. Cases such as Earl Washington Jr’s is a clear example to the flaws in our criminal justice system and the desperate need for change/reform.

The Crime On June 1982, Rebecca Lynn Williams, a 19-year-old mother of three was raped and stabbed repeatedly in her Culpeper, Virginia apartment. Williams was running errands and upon arriving to her apartment, she left the door unlocked behind her, giving the attacker the opportunity to enter her apartment. Before her death, Williams was asked if she could identify who her alleged attacker was by police and her husband, only describing the attacker as a black man acting alone. Soon after, the case became cold with no useful leads. On May 21, 1983, almost a year after the death of Rebecca Williams, Earl Washington Jr. was arrested in Fauquier County, Virginia for an unrelated charge of alleged burglary and malicious. This incident occurred after an altercation Mr. Washington had with his family members after drinking heavily that night. Washington broke into a nearby house to retrieve a gun that he knew would be there, but didn’t realize someone was home, Mrs. Hazel Weeks. Washington hit Mrs. Weeks in the head with a chair and proceeded to go back home to his family members where he accidentally shot his brother, Robert, in the foot. Later on that night, Washington was allegedly found crying in the woods by the Virginia police. Prior to this arrest, Washington had no criminal record.

The Investigation

Washington was questioned for two days before confessing to a total of 5 different crimes including the rape and death of Rebecca Lynn Williams. This “confession” of the murder of Rebecca Williams was the last thing Washington confessed to the police. That being said, Confession #5 ultimately was a mitigating factor regarding the capital murder and death sentence of Earl Washington. The first four confessions were dismissed by the Commonwealth because Washington’s statements and the actual facts of the case were not adding up. This included eyewitness testimony, identification and Washington wasn’t present at the scene for the majority of the crimes except for one (Mrs. Weeks). For example, confession #1 was the initial crime where Washington broke into the home of Mrs. Weeks, which was true, but Mr. Washington proceeded to tell police officers that he attempted to rape Mrs. Weeks. This statement was false and was further confirmed by Mrs. Weeks during the preliminary hearing. Subsequently, attempted rape charges were dropped. During deliberate questioning, police officers were inclined to ask Washington questions regarding burglary and rape, after Mrs. Weeks’ case because there were other cases that hadn’t been solved in the area. Such cases consisted of attempted rapes, as well as breaking and enterings. All questions given by the police officers were very leading opposed to Washington giving the information, police officers would describe the incident and Washington would answer in the affirmative or negative. When asked non-leading questions, Washington was having difficulty describing the victims or the actual facts of the case, which was even noted by the police. For example, Washington described Williams as being “short” when she was actually tall, that she was black instead of white and that he stabbed the victim once or twice, but the victim had been stabbed over thirty times (Washington v. Commonwealth). Washington couldn’t even point out the location of the victim’s apartment. It was only after police took him three to four times in one day and pointed to the exact location of the victim’s apartment, Washington answered the police in the affirmative.

Trial

Washington’s trial lasted only three days, but went through the regular criminal justice proceedings. This included an arraignment, preliminary Hearing, pretrial hearing and motions, and lastly a jury trial. Washington’s case was heard by a grand jury. Due to the severity of the crime Washington was on trial for capital murder and the decision would be up to the jury to determine if Washington would be sentenced to death. After a very short deliberation of less than an hour, the jury sentenced Washington to death. Compared to many cases, Washington’s case didn’t take much time at all due to many mitigating factors, such as the “forensic evidence” and his confession. In the juror’s eyes and the maliciousness of the crime, Washington was seen as guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. After his sentencing, his direct appeal was handled by the trial lawyer and was denied. Ultimately, Washington was put on death row on his way to execution.

The Contributor

There are numerous factors that led to Washington’s conviction, which included false confessions, inaccurate/misleading forensic evidence, inadequate defense representation, as well as Washington’s mental state (mental retardation). During trial, prosecution relied heavily on Washington’s confession and the identification of a t-shirt that was found at the victim’s apartment and shown to Washington, who said it was his. Police records indicated that Washington’s confession was filled with errors. After multiple attempts of a confession, four to be exact, police then proceeded to secure a written and signed confession statement from Earl Washington. The typed and signed confession from police was admitted into court. As stated previously and after reading Washington’s police statement, I noticed Washington only answered “Yes” and “No sir”. The defense never fully brought into question Washington’s mental stability regarding his behavior with the police, instead his mental health was used against him by the state, deeming Washington to be competent and aware of his Miranda rights. Prosecution also relied heavily on semen recovered from the victim’s body and blanket. This piece of evidence was crucial in the conviction of Earl Washington because before the advancement of DNA, officials could only use tests such as blood or ABO testing. Results concluded that the stain types were inconsistent with both Washington and the victim. This crucial piece of evidence/ innocence was never brought up by Washington’s defense team, but was indeed used against Washington.

The Exoneration

After serving 16 years behind bars, Washington was exonerated in 2000. Washington’s innocence was discovered through new DNA testing which was available. Prior to the new DNA testing, with the assistance of former death row inmate Joseph Giarratano, Washington’s life was saved literally nine days before his execution day was scheduled in late August 1985. Giarratano was able to alert Marie Deans (a lawyer) and her law firm was able to secure a stay of execution for Washington. It wasn’t until new DNA evidence was petitioned in 1993, that evidence excluded Washington from the seminal stain that was used to convict him in his initial trial. Due to Virginia’s time restriction on new evidence, Washington missed the 21 day deadline and was unable to be exonerated, but Governor Wilder changed Washington’s sentence to life imprisonment. It took an additional six years in prison for Washington’s defense team to seek additional DNA testing and assistance from Governor Gilmore to grant Washington’s exoneration. Washington was released from prison in February of 2001 on parole. Also with the help of the Innocence Project throughout the advanced DNA evidence testing process, in 2007 Governor Kaine issued an absolute pardon acknowledging that Washington was wrongfully convicted of rape and murder.

After spending 16 years in prison, Washington sued in a civil lawsuit and was awarded close to $2 million dollars from the state of Virginia. It was also stated that a man named Kenneth Tinsley who was also convicted and serving life for a different rape and murder in 1984, was found to be the actual suspect in Williams’ death in 2007. Although extremely unfortunate, there are many cases like Washington’s today, in fact Washington’s case is used as a prime example of how the criminal justice system has failed so many people.