Conservative Virginia Attorney General Cuccinelli Takes the Correct Position in Criminal Case





Conservative Principles Often Work When Conservatives Embrace Their Principles

In a wrongful conviction case in Virginia, a man served 27 year after being convicted in a rape case. 



P. Kevin Morley/Richmond Times-Dispatch, via Associated Press

Thomas Haynesworth after being released from prison

 in March. DNA proved he did not commit two

of the rapes he was tried for.



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 a typical result in thee situations is that the prosecutors and the state refuse to admit error, even in the face of incontrovertible evidence that the conviction was incorrect.  Since the Attorney General of Virginia is a strong Conservative, the expectation was even greater in this case that the state would insist on the guilt of the person and never, ever admit that a mistake was made.

This was not the situation in Virginia.  Everyone agreed that the defendant should be declared innocent by a court of law.

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.

One would have to look very hard to find a more doctrinaire Conservative than Mr. Cuccinelli.  But he did, or has tried to do the right thing.  However, for inexplicable reasons the state court in Virginia has, so far, not agreed to exonerate Mr. Haynesworth.

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. “It’s very rare for a court to set a case for argument when all the parties are agreed,” said Stephen J. Schulhofer, an expert in criminal justice at New York University law school, adding that “it’s essentially unheard of” for a court to take matters into its own hands, instead of appointing a special advocate to argue on behalf of the interests that they believe are unrepresented.

Exactly why the court is so skeptical is unknown, one suspects it is part of the attitude expressed earlier that government, once it has convicted, is loathe to change the outcome.  At any rate, the saga is not over, and one hopes that justice is ultimately done.  In the meantime, kudo’s to Mr. Cuccinelli, The Dismal Political Economist is more than happy to see a person do the right thing, particularly when it goes against the grain of the attitude of many others who share the same political philosophy.