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Cleared of Rape but Lacking Full Exoneration

A Virginia man wrongly convicted of multiple rapes in the mid-1980s and recently proven innocent by DNA evidence.

I must share a personal aside here: I lived in Richmond, Virginia, during those years, and experienced a life-changing and traumatic event related to the topic of this story. The climate with regard to both race and a string of rapes in Richmond at the time was such that it does not surprise me that police were eager to put someone, anyone, in prison. It's wonderful that technology has helped to prove Mr. Haynesworth's innocence. And it's terrible that the utterly broken legal system in Virginia still doesn't want to set him free, 27 years later.

DNA has since proved that he did not commit two of the rapes he was tried for. The DNA from those two cases pointed to another man, in prison for having committed multiple rapes in the same neighborhood that occurred after Mr. Haynesworth’s arrest. That man, Leon Davis, who identified himself to victims as “the Black Ninja,” is serving multiple life terms plus 100 years.

Now Mr. Haynesworth, 46, is asking for full exoneration on all of the rape convictions, although DNA from the other two cases is not available. But the circumstantial evidence supporting Mr. Haynesworth’s claims of innocence is so powerful that along with his own lawyers, the prosecutors from both jurisdictions where the rapes occurred support his efforts, as well as the attorney general for the commonwealth, Kenneth T. Cuccinelli.

With no one arguing against exoneration, most judges would be expected to congratulate Mr. Haynesworth on his new life, perhaps with an apology as well, and send him into daylight and freedom. But in July, a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals of Virginia said, in essence, “Not so fast.” The court called for additional briefs in the case, which will be heard again on Tuesday by all of the judges of the court. It is a move that has left legal experts astonished.


Read the full article: Man Cleared of Rape, but a Court Balks at Full Exoneration (NYT)


Calling all those who claim the US Justice system is perfect! Despite the fact that they got it wrong they refuse to fully exonerate him..

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the US justice system is FAR from perfect... i think it's very messed up... i've never heard anyone but patriotic americans claim it is.
Reply 2
I was speaking of this with a friend the other day... The stigma of this will forever burden his existence...

And go onto my troy davis thread, the amount of people saying the american system is virtually flawless is shocking

Original post by Bellissima
the US justice system is FAR from perfect... i think it's very messed up... i've never heard anyone but patriotic americans claim it is.

See what i wrote the boobies
Really? I think the opposite is true. So few rapes end in convictions that juries clearly don't feel this way. There's a culture of expecting men to have been 'stitched up' or that women have led them on in some way that actually I don't think suspected rapists are presumed guilty at all. Statistically it seems like the opposite is happening to a dangerous degree.
It's pathetic and ridiculous that Virginian authorities are so opposed to being wrong that they won't free someone despite there being overwhelming evidence in the accused perpetrator's defence.
Reply 5
Punishments can be pretty heavy in America which is good...only the bit before that (catching the actual criminals) seems to suck.
The US justice system disgusts me at times. If everyone is supporting him, just bloody get on with it! Just because they might THINK he did the crimes, the evidence says otherwise, they have pretty much no right to keep him any longer!

I think the worst thing is, even if he is exonerated of all crimes, he will still have been in prison for all those years, and no one will probably trust him anymore.

A completely irrelevant point, feel free to ignore, but I ended up watching a program about horrible acts of violence last night for no apparent reason, and it made me really angry how utterly ridiculous America's gun laws are, and I am disturbed by their (obviously only some people's) obsession with guns. I don't even know why I'm typing this now. Please ignore it.
Reply 7
Original post by JCC-MGS
Really? I think the opposite is true. So few rapes end in convictions that juries clearly don't feel this way. There's a culture of expecting men to have been 'stitched up' or that women have led them on in some way that actually I don't think suspected rapists are presumed guilty at all. Statistically it seems like the opposite is happening to a dangerous degree.


The reason for this i think is that unfortunately for those that have been honestly raped, there are many women who cry wolf, thus lowering the credibility of other women....
Reply 8
Original post by TheEssence
Read the full article: Man Cleared of Rape, but a Court Balks at Full Exoneration (NYT)


Calling all those who claim the US Justice system is perfect! Despite the fact that they got it wrong they refuse to fully exonerate him..


To call any justice system perfect, is folly. My guess is that if "Americans" were claiming our justice system to be perfect, it was in the context of defending the death penalty. It's hard to justify killing the convicted, if you acknowledge you may get it wrong. I'm not justifying the argument, I'm just speculating why someone would make such a ridiculous statement. Maybe they were just ignorant. We've got them, and so do you.

It should be the first priority of all "imperfect" justice systems to ensure that the innocent go unpunished. It certainly appears as though we failed in this case. There is no excuse for not correcting a grievous injustice as quickly as possible. I'm not sure if the problem is some bureaucrat making sure every procedure is followed, or if it is something more sinister like an intentional stone wall. What ever the cause, it looks to me to be a human failure more than an American one.

Yea I know it happened in Virginia. The Virginia State government is responsible. I'm just saying this kind of thing happens everywhere.
most judges would be expected to congratulate Mr. Haynesworth on his new life, perhaps with an apology as well

Really?:tongue:

I'm not fully awake so maybe I'm confused:redface: but there seems to be a lot of holes in this article:confused: He was convicted of three rapes, but it turns out he didn't commit two of them. What about the 3rd one? And what is the circumstantial evidence?
Check out the journalist waving his penis at him - that girl is finding it so amusing
Original post by Algorithm69
I think the complete opposite to what you said is true.


You think the complete opposite of statistical fact is true? More power to you mate, but I think you're fighting a losing battle there.
Reply 12
DNA evidence is not 100% feasible evidence, its entirely possible he is still guilty and a lack of convicting evidence has allowed a rapist back onto the streets of America. Well done US justice system, you've allowed this vile man who is 'possibly' a rapist back out to mix with normal people.

Are these lawyers mad? The evidence from all the cases is not even available. :facepalm:

1 rape is sickening and inhumane so therefore this cannot be taken lightly in any way whatsoever.
Reply 13
Who on earth has called the US Justice system perfect? As an American myself for example, I certainly don't think it is.

No justice system is perfect, including that of the UK; I was just reading about this the other day.

Lesley Susan Molseed (14 August 1964 5 October 1975) was an eleven-year old girl from Turf Hill, Rochdale, Greater Manchester, who was murdered on Rishworth Moor in West Yorkshire.
Stefan Ivan Kiszko (24 March 1952 23 December 1993), a 23-year-old local tax clerk of Ukrainian/Slovenian parentage, served 16 years in prison after he was wrongly convicted of her sexual assault and murder. His ordeal was described by one MP as "the worst miscarriage of justice of all time."

After forensic evidence showed that he could not have committed the murder, Kiszko was scheduled for a hearing for potential release, but died shortly before. Ronald Castree was eventually found guilty of the crime on 12 November 2007
Original post by jb9191
DNA evidence is not 100% feasible evidence, its entirely possible he is still guilty and a lack of convicting evidence has allowed a rapist back onto the streets of America. Well done US justice system, you've allowed this vile man who is 'possibly' a rapist back out to mix with normal people.


You're right. We should lock every citizen up, as everyone is 'possibly' a rapist.

Oh wait.

See the problem with presumed guilt now?
Reply 15
Original post by TheEssence
X


Trust you to produce a blatantly fallacious article to prove whatever pathetic point you have :rolleyes:

Here are the actual events;

- In May 2011, Haynesworth received a public and personal apology from the Virginia AG.

In a meeting at his Richmond office, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli personally apologized to Thomas Haynesworth on Tuesday, telling the man who was released from prison Monday after serving 27 years for a string of rapes and assaults that prosecutors now believe he did not commit that Virginia’s justice system had failed him.

Cuccinelli (R) said he has closely reviewed every bit of evidence in Haynesworth’s case and has come to believe that the Richmond man did not commit any of the crimes of which he was accused not two rapes in which DNA evidence has now implicated another man and not two others for which DNA evidence does not exist.


- Haynesworth is due to have his writ of innocence process in the next few days, as a matter of procedure, as all involved (including Cuccinelli) believe he shall be exonerated; so much so that in fact that he is doing something unprecedented, in actually arguing on behalf of a defendant for a writ of actual innocence.

Lawyers today will petition the Virginia Court of Appeals to issue writs of actual innocence to Thomas Haynesworth, a Richmond man who spent 27 years in prison for sex crimes prosecutors now believe, thanks to DNA evidence, were committed by another man.

And one of the attorneys arguing for Haynesworth's exoneration will be Ken Cuccinelli, the Virginia attorney general whose office is technically responsible for representing the state against a defendant.

Cuccinelli has been a staunch advocate for full exoneration for Haynesworth, 46, who was paroled in March by Gov. Bob McDonnell after evidence demonstrated that he did not commit the crimes that sent him to state prison as an 18-year-old. The act of a Virginia attorney general arguing on behalf of a defendant for a writ of actual innocence is believed to be unprecedented.
Reply 16
Original post by MapleBacon
Trust you to produce a blatantly fallacious article to prove whatever pathetic point you have :rolleyes:

Here are the actual events;

- In May 2011, Haynesworth received a public and personal apology from the Virginia AG.



- Haynesworth is due to have his writ of innocence process in the next few days, as a matter of procedure, as all involved (including Cuccinelli) believe he shall be exonerated; so much so that in fact that he is doing something unprecedented, in actually arguing on behalf of a defendant for a writ of actual innocence.


it's you again, mr americas judicial system is perfect !

At the point in time had he been exonerated? no
Yeah Virginian police are not so good, and absolutely refuse to back down and be proved in the wrong.

Point in case:
http://reason.com/archives/2011/01/17/justice-for-sal

It's pretty awful. Imagine that happening in the UK, the uproar it would cause. It's the most disproportionate force imaginable, considering he was lured into it as well.
Reply 18
Original post by TheEssence
it's you again, mr americas judicial system is perfect ! At the point in time had he been exonerated? no


When have I ever said anything close to the American justice system being perfect? Oh that's right, I haven't and you're just making things up :facepalm:

As for exoneration, he legally cannot be exonerated according to the Commonwealth of Virginia, until he has an appeals - which even the Virginia AG is backing him on, which has never been done before and all but guarantees he'll be exonerated. But as I said, trust you to ignore the facts :rolleyes:
Reply 19
Original post by Blorcyn
Yeah Virginian police are not so good, and absolutely refuse to back down and be proved in the wrong. It's pretty awful. Imagine that happening in the UK, the uproar it would cause. It's the most disproportionate force imaginable, considering he was lured into it as well.


Oh please, one hyperbolic example does not show a wider trend "Virginian police as not being good". Its absolute nonsense to suggest so; it'd be like using my previous example (in a previous post on the first page) of the miscarriage of justice in the English system, or say the shooting of Charles de Menezes, as a tool for British police being "not so good" :rolleyes:

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