The victim reportedly told the police and her husband that there was only one attacker, and the alleged confession from Washing-ton said he did it alone. Dr. James C. Beyer, who did the autopsy, testified that the sperm was less than 12 hours old as of 2:05 p.m.
Williams' husband worked the night shift, and Williams was seen walking outside with her kids in the morning. The consensual-sex version of the theory would have to maintain that she brought someone into her apartment between about 2 a.m. and when her kids woke up.
Freedman said, "There is not a scintilla of evidence for it. It is just a desperate attempt by the state to dream up some way to justify having incarcerated and almost executed the wrong person."
The petition for pardon puts it this way: "To give weight to a theory that would ignore those facts so as to evade the exculpatory force of the DNA evidence would be to undercut the validity of DNA testing in almost all cases, whether the results were favorable to the prosecution or the defense, since it could always be suggested that the adverse results were due to the activities of some mysterious stranger."
*****
The defense maintains there are significant problems in this case with what authors Barry Scheck, Peter Neufeld and Jim Dwyer refer to in their book on the wrongfully convicted, "Actual Innocence," as "the unindicted co-ejaculator theory."
The state had agreed to allow the defense to do its own testing at a lab in Massachusetts, but the sample supplied them was too small to be tested with technologies available, although today such tests can be done on smaller samples.
So, instead, the defense asked Dr. Henry Ehrlich, one of the designers of the DQ Alpha test technology, to interpret the results of the state's test. Ehrlich's interpretation was that the 1.1 and 1.2 alleles were paired -- that is that they came together in the semen -- and that the 4 was from skin cells of the victim.
The defense team maintains that the second test Wilder knew about was not shared with them. It was a DNA test of semen on the blanket found at the crime scene, and the results were consistent with the original test on the blanket stain. The new test found a 1.1,1.2 genotype, exactly what Ehrlich found in the vaginal-swab test.
Ban's report to Walter McFarlane, counsel to the governor, was signed Jan. 14, 1994. It states: "Earl Washington is eliminated as the donor of the HLA DQ alpha types obtained from the blue blanket, stains A, B, and C. . . . It is my opinion that the contributor to the sperm fraction of stain D of the blue blanket is an individual possessing a 1.1,1.2 genotype. Based on that opinion . . . Earl Washington Jr. [is] eliminated as [a] possible [suspect]."
*****
Knowing that this test had been done, but not knowing its results, the defense team accepted Wilder's offer of life imprisonment, and in doing so passed up alternatives for appealing the case further through the courts. This decision had to be made in two hours, and the alternative was for Wilder to do nothing to stop Washington's execution.
"None of us saw the blanket DNA test," Weinstein said. "I was in Richmond at the time. . . . All five of us [Deans, Hall, Zerkin, Freedman and Weinstein] were in on the decision. . . . It was Earl's decision. He was able to understand life and death. Could he understand spending the rest of his life in prison? That's questionable."
The defense team continued requesting the test results following Wilder's commutation, as documented by letters sent by Bob Hall to Walter McFarlane, counsel to Gov. Wilder, and by phone records. They finally learned of the blanket test results after Ferrara gave them to the television show Frontline.
Weinstein said he was very surprised and outraged at not having been shown these results earlier, since the defense team "had a very good working relationship with [Walter] McFarland."
"Up until Marie [Deans] and I actually conveyed Gov. Wilder's commutation offer to Earl," Weinstein said, "we were still inquiring about the results of the DNA test on the blue blanket. Never a response from the Governor's Office."
Williams' husband worked the night shift, and Williams was seen walking outside with her kids in the morning. The consensual-sex version of the theory would have to maintain that she brought someone into her apartment between about 2 a.m. and when her kids woke up.
Freedman said, "There is not a scintilla of evidence for it. It is just a desperate attempt by the state to dream up some way to justify having incarcerated and almost executed the wrong person."
The petition for pardon puts it this way: "To give weight to a theory that would ignore those facts so as to evade the exculpatory force of the DNA evidence would be to undercut the validity of DNA testing in almost all cases, whether the results were favorable to the prosecution or the defense, since it could always be suggested that the adverse results were due to the activities of some mysterious stranger."
The defense maintains there are significant problems in this case with what authors Barry Scheck, Peter Neufeld and Jim Dwyer refer to in their book on the wrongfully convicted, "Actual Innocence," as "the unindicted co-ejaculator theory."
The state had agreed to allow the defense to do its own testing at a lab in Massachusetts, but the sample supplied them was too small to be tested with technologies available, although today such tests can be done on smaller samples.
So, instead, the defense asked Dr. Henry Ehrlich, one of the designers of the DQ Alpha test technology, to interpret the results of the state's test. Ehrlich's interpretation was that the 1.1 and 1.2 alleles were paired -- that is that they came together in the semen -- and that the 4 was from skin cells of the victim.
The defense team maintains that the second test Wilder knew about was not shared with them. It was a DNA test of semen on the blanket found at the crime scene, and the results were consistent with the original test on the blanket stain. The new test found a 1.1,1.2 genotype, exactly what Ehrlich found in the vaginal-swab test.
Ban's report to Walter McFarlane, counsel to the governor, was signed Jan. 14, 1994. It states: "Earl Washington is eliminated as the donor of the HLA DQ alpha types obtained from the blue blanket, stains A, B, and C. . . . It is my opinion that the contributor to the sperm fraction of stain D of the blue blanket is an individual possessing a 1.1,1.2 genotype. Based on that opinion . . . Earl Washington Jr. [is] eliminated as [a] possible [suspect]."
*****
Knowing that this test had been done, but not knowing its results, the defense team accepted Wilder's offer of life imprisonment, and in doing so passed up alternatives for appealing the case further through the courts. This decision had to be made in two hours, and the alternative was for Wilder to do nothing to stop Washington's execution.
"None of us saw the blanket DNA test," Weinstein said. "I was in Richmond at the time. . . . All five of us [Deans, Hall, Zerkin, Freedman and Weinstein] were in on the decision. . . . It was Earl's decision. He was able to understand life and death. Could he understand spending the rest of his life in prison? That's questionable."
The defense team continued requesting the test results following Wilder's commutation, as documented by letters sent by Bob Hall to Walter McFarlane, counsel to Gov. Wilder, and by phone records. They finally learned of the blanket test results after Ferrara gave them to the television show Frontline.
Weinstein said he was very surprised and outraged at not having been shown these results earlier, since the defense team "had a very good working relationship with [Walter] McFarland."
"Up until Marie [Deans] and I actually conveyed Gov. Wilder's commutation offer to Earl," Weinstein said, "we were still inquiring about the results of the DNA test on the blue blanket. Never a response from the Governor's Office."
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).
