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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Rape |
Sentence: |
74 years |
Years Imprisoned: |
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Year Crime: |
1984 |
Year Convicted: |
1984 |
Year Cleared: |
2009 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Virginia |
County or Region of Crime: |
Richmond |
City of Crime: |
Richmond |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary of Case: |
"Thomas Edward Haynesworth was wrongly convicted in 1984 in three trials of three separate rapes and sexual assaults of three different women based on eyewitness identifications by the three women in Richmond, Virginia. He was acquitted of a fourth assault (robbery and oral sodomy committed on January 21, 1984) where the victim identified him. He was sentenced to 74 years in prison. In 2009 his conviction of a rape committed on January 3, 1984 was overturned based on DNA evidence that excluded him, and identified imprisoned serial rapist Leon Davis as the actual perpetrator. Davis was serving seven life sentences for a series of rapes committed in 1984. On September 18, 2009 the Virginia Supreme Court issued a writ of actual innocence to Haynesworth in that case. The DNA testing also excluded Thomas Haynesworth in the case he had been acquitted of committing. However, the DNA evidence couldn't be discovered related to his other two convictions. He was released on bail on March 21, 2011, pending review of his two remaining convictions that had the same MO as the other crimes committed by Davis. One was a sexual assault conviction in Henrico County on August 10, 1984. The other was a robbery and kidnapping with intent to defile conviction in Richmond County on October 11, 1984. Virginia's AG supported complete exoneration of Thomas Haynesworth, and on December 6, 2011 the Virginia Court of Appeals en banc vacated his two remaining convictions and issued writs of actual innocence. (See, Thomas Haynesworth v. Commonwealth of Virginia, Nos. 0223112 and 0224112 (VA COA, 12-06-2011). On April 5, 2012 Governor Bob McDonnell signed SB41 that awarded $1,075,178 in compensation to Haynesworth based on his actual innocence." |
Conviction Caused By: |
Erroneous eyewitness identification by three women involved in three separate rape and abductions. |
Innocence Proved By: |
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Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
"$1,075,178 (State of Virginia, April 2012)" |
Was Perpetrator Identified? |
Yes |
Age When Imprisoned: |
18 |
Age When Released: |
43 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
Black |
Information Source 1: |
"Wrongly Convicted Richmond Man To Receive $1 Million, News Release, April 5, 2012" |
Information Location 1: |
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Information Source 2: |
"Timeline of Haynesworth cases, Richmond Times-Dispatch, August 15, 2010" |
Information Location 2: |
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2010/aug/15/dnaa15g-ar-426768/ |
Information Source 3: |
"Thomas Haynesworth, Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project, May 27, 2011" |
Information Location 3: |
http://www.exonerate.org/press-kit/thomas-haynesworth/ |
Information Source 4: |
"High court grants 'writ of actual innocence', By Sarah Abruzzese (staff), Washington Times, September 19, 2009" |
Information Location 4: |
http://www.virginia-appeals.com/media_coverage.aspx?id=143 |
Information Source 5: |
"Thomas Haynesworth v. Commonwealth of Virginia, Nos. 0223112 and 0224112 (VA COA, 12-06-2011)" |
Information Location 5: |
http://www.courts.state.va.us/opinions/opncavwp/0223112.pdf |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org