Edward Honaker

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Charge:	"Sexual Assault, Sodomy and Rape"
Sentence:	Life Imprisonment
Years Imprisoned:	10
Year Crime:	1984
Year Convicted:	1984
Year Cleared:	1994
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Virginia
County or Region of Crime:	Nelson
City of Crime:
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"Edward Honaker was wrongly convicted in 1984 of seven counts of sexual assault, sodomy and rape based on two erroneous eyewitness identifications of him as the kidnapper and rapist, and expert testimony that “hair found on the woman’s shorts “was unlikely to match anyone” other than Honaker.” Edward Honaker was sentenced to three life sentences plus 34 years. An investigation by Centurion Ministries proved the witnesses were mistaken, and that conclusion was corroborated by DNA testing of sperm on a vaginal swab and the victim's underwear that excluded Edward Honaker as the attacker. On October 21, 1994 Honaker was granted an unconditional pardon by Virginia's governor after ten years of wrongful imprisonment."
Conviction Caused By:	Erroneous eyewitness testimony and erroneous expert testimony that crime scene hairs matched Honaker.
Innocence Proved By:	DNA and proof the eyewitnesses were mistaken.
Defendant Aided By:	Centurion Ministries (Lead) and Innocence Project NY (secondary).
Compensation Awarded:	"$500,000 (State of Virginia, 1996)"
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:	33
Age When Released:	43
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	White
Information Source 1:	Centurion Ministries website
Information Location 1:	http://www.centurionministries.org/cases.html
Information Source 2:	""Governor Frees Honaker," Peter Baker (staff writer), The Washington Post, October 22, 1994."
Information Location 2:
Information Source 3:	Innocence Project database
Information Location 3:	http://www.innocenceproject.org/case/display_profile.php?id=25
Information Source 4:	"Convicted by Juries, Exonerated by Science: Case Studies in the Use of DNA Evidence to Establish Innocence after Trial, by Edward Connors, Thomas Lundregan, Neal Miller and Tom McEwen (US DOJ, National Institute of Justice, June 1996)"
Information Location 4:
Information Source 5:
Information Location 5:
Book About Case:
Book Information:
Book About Case (2):
Book Information (2):
Movie About Case:
Comments About Case:	"Washington Post, 10-22-94"

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Edward Honaker

Charge:

"Sexual Assault, Sodomy and Rape"

Sentence:

Life Imprisonment

Years Imprisoned:

10

Year Crime:

1984

Year Convicted:

1984

Year Cleared:

1994

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Virginia

County or Region of Crime:

Nelson

City of Crime:

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Erroneous eyewitness testimony and erroneous expert testimony that crime scene hairs matched Honaker.

Innocence Proved By:

DNA and proof the eyewitnesses were mistaken.

Defendant Aided By:

Centurion Ministries (Lead) and Innocence Project NY (secondary).

Compensation Awarded:

"$500,000 (State of Virginia, 1996)"

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

33

Age When Released:

43

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

Centurion Ministries website

Information Location 1:

http://www.centurionministries.org/cases.html

Information Source 2:

""Governor Frees Honaker," Peter Baker (staff writer), The Washington Post, October 22, 1994."

Information Location 2:

Information Source 3:

Innocence Project database

Information Location 3:

http://www.innocenceproject.org/case/display_profile.php?id=25

Information Source 4:

"Convicted by Juries, Exonerated by Science: Case Studies in the Use of DNA Evidence to Establish Innocence after Trial, by Edward Connors, Thomas Lundregan, Neal Miller and Tom McEwen (US DOJ, National Institute of Justice, June 1996)"

Information Location 4:

Information Source 5:

Information Location 5:

Book About Case:

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case:

"Washington Post, 10-22-94"