A transcript of Wilmore's questioning of Washington is included in the court record. Washington's story is not especially coherent.
He says two guys he doesn't know drove him to Culpeper for no particular reason, and that they parked the car and he got out at the victim's apartment. That's the last the two guys are heard of in the story. Washington says, in this version, nothing about seeing a woman walking on the sidewalk. He says, rather, that he kicked the apartment door in and didn't know whose apartment it was. Upon urging, he says the door was unlocked. He does not explain why he kicked it in or how he knows it was unlocked.
Then he says he stabbed the woman once or twice, although the autopsy report showed 38 stab wounds. Scott never raised these questions during the trial.
After questioning Washington in Fauquier, Hart and Wilmore drove him to Culpeper so that he could point out the apartment where the crime occurred. In a preliminary hearing before the trial, Hart said Washington volunteered that he wanted to show them the crime scene.
Hart drove, with Washington in the front seat and Wilmore sitting behind Washington. Hart said they took Washington to several apartment complexes, and that he said they were the wrong place.
When they came to Village Apartments, where the murder occurred, Hart said, Washington first said it was not the right place, and then said "wait." This reportedly occurred twice. Then Wilmore pointed to the right apartment and asked Washington if that was the one. He agreed that it was.
In Wilmore's testimony during the trial, he said Washington at first directed them to the wrong place. They then took him to others, which he told them were wrong.
When they came to Village Apartments, it took three tries and parking there to get Washington to point out an apartment, which was the wrong one. Then Wilmore pointed to the right one, and Washington agreed, claiming he'd known it all along.
Scott did not question the inconsistencies in these stories. Although Hart was put on the stand three times during the trial, Scott declined to cross-examine him all three times.
Wilmore also testified that Washington pointed to a fence separating the neighborhood from Route 29 and said he had "crossed the fence in that location," the same place where a witness had seen a black man cross the fence.
After the crime, Washington had told the police, he hitchhiked a ride with a white man, and threw the knife out the window of the car. This man was never identified, and the story of Washington's ride with him never developed in detail. For example, we do not know whether the man saw Washington throwing the knife out of the car window. The knife was searched for but not found.
*****
Scott brought up the fact that Washington has a very low IQ, but did not use this to explain that he confessed to please the men questioning him. In fact, Scott hardly questioned the investigators' techniques at all. Instead, he put Washington on the stand, where his client denied he had made the confession.
"Presumably, that wasn't the plan," said Freedman. "Presumably the plan was to have Earl say, 'I didn't do any of those things,' not to deny signing the confession. When he denied signing the confession, the prosecutor had a field day."
Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
