Officer C.R. Jenkins of the Culpeper Police Department said any decision to reopen a case has to be made by the commonwealth's attorney.
Commonwealth's Attorney Gary Close said there is very little likelihood the case will be reopened, but that such a decision would have to be made by the police department. "I'm convinced the correct person was convicted," Close said.
THE ORIGINAL TRIAL
Earl Washington, a mentally retarded farm worker from Bealeton, was tried for capital murder in Culpeper on Jan. 18-20, 1984.
Washington was accused of murdering Rebecca Lynn Williams in her Culpeper apartment in June 1982. The defendant had been picked up on an unrelated charge in Fauquier and questioned by police there about the rape/murder of Williams in Culpeper. Local law enforcement officials had gone to Fauquier to question Washington and then driven him around Culpeper to see whether he could identify the crime scene.
Washington, who is mentally retarded, confessed to the Culpeper crime and to several others that evidence showed he couldn't have committed.
The first day of the trial was used for jury selection, the second for the presentation of evidence, and the third for closing arguments and the penalty phase. Washington was found guilty of capital murder and sentenced to die.
*****
Then-commonwealth's attorney John Bennett prosecuted the case, and John Scott Jr. was employed as Washington's lead defense lawyer. Washington's sister had hired Scott to replace defense lawyers appointed by the state.
Bennett currently practices law in Culpeper, while Scott is a circuit-court judge in Fredericksburg and Spotsyl-vania County. Scott said that as a member of the judiciary he cannot comment on an active case.
Judge David F. Berry presided over the case and retired from the bench a month later. Berry lives in Madison and substitutes as a judge occasionally in Culpeper. He has not presided over a case since last September, according to the judges' secretary, and repeated attempts to reach him in Madison have been unsuccessful.
Important witnesses in the case were State Police Special Agent C. Reese Wilmore, since deceased, and Culpeper Police Lt. Lee Hart, now sheriff of Culpeper County.
*****
Bennett told the judge he would argue for capital punishment because the crime "involved torture, depravity of mind and aggravated battery to the victim."
The capital murder charge did not technically depend on a charge of rape, which was not made, but in his closing argument Bennett asserted that Washington had raped Williams as well as stabbing her 38 times.
Fauquier investigator Terry Schrum was the first police officer Bennett put on the stand during the trial. He said "Earl," as he referred to Washington, volunteered, from his jail cell, to talk to him at 12:40 p.m. on May 21, 1983, and confessed to the crime in Culpeper that occurred a year earlier.
Commonwealth's Attorney Gary Close said there is very little likelihood the case will be reopened, but that such a decision would have to be made by the police department. "I'm convinced the correct person was convicted," Close said.
THE ORIGINAL TRIAL
Earl Washington, a mentally retarded farm worker from Bealeton, was tried for capital murder in Culpeper on Jan. 18-20, 1984.
Washington, who is mentally retarded, confessed to the Culpeper crime and to several others that evidence showed he couldn't have committed.
The first day of the trial was used for jury selection, the second for the presentation of evidence, and the third for closing arguments and the penalty phase. Washington was found guilty of capital murder and sentenced to die.
*****
Then-commonwealth's attorney John Bennett prosecuted the case, and John Scott Jr. was employed as Washington's lead defense lawyer. Washington's sister had hired Scott to replace defense lawyers appointed by the state.
Bennett currently practices law in Culpeper, while Scott is a circuit-court judge in Fredericksburg and Spotsyl-vania County. Scott said that as a member of the judiciary he cannot comment on an active case.
Judge David F. Berry presided over the case and retired from the bench a month later. Berry lives in Madison and substitutes as a judge occasionally in Culpeper. He has not presided over a case since last September, according to the judges' secretary, and repeated attempts to reach him in Madison have been unsuccessful.
Important witnesses in the case were State Police Special Agent C. Reese Wilmore, since deceased, and Culpeper Police Lt. Lee Hart, now sheriff of Culpeper County.
*****
Bennett told the judge he would argue for capital punishment because the crime "involved torture, depravity of mind and aggravated battery to the victim."
The capital murder charge did not technically depend on a charge of rape, which was not made, but in his closing argument Bennett asserted that Washington had raped Williams as well as stabbing her 38 times.
Fauquier investigator Terry Schrum was the first police officer Bennett put on the stand during the trial. He said "Earl," as he referred to Washington, volunteered, from his jail cell, to talk to him at 12:40 p.m. on May 21, 1983, and confessed to the crime in Culpeper that occurred a year earlier.
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