Earl Washington civil case - a settlement agreement

Virginia agrees to murder case deal
$1.9 million would go to Earl Washington, cleared in Culpeper woman's
death
BY FRANK GREEN
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Virginia has agreed to pay $1.9 million to Earl Washington Jr. for a
wrongful conviction that nearly cost the former farm worker his life and
tarnished the reputation of the state's criminal-justice system. 
 
If the agreement is approved by the court, it would end Washington's
claims against authorities and toss out a $2.25 million verdict -- now on
appeal -- that he won last year in federal court.

A jury in Charlottesville found that in 1983, former Virginia State
Police investigator Curtis Reese Wilmore, who has since died, gave
Washington details of the crime that only the killer could have known in order
to buttress Washington's confession.

Washington, who is mildly retarded, falsely confessed to the June 4,
1982, rape and murder of Rebecca Lynn Williams, a 19-year-old mother of
three, in Culpeper. He recanted the confession but was sentenced to
death and came within nine days of being executed in 1985.

DNA testing in 2000 led to Washington's freedom and implicated a
convicted rapist, Kenneth Maurice Tinsley. Tinsley, now facing capital-murder
charges, was further implicated in 2004 DNA testing conducted as a
result of Washington's suit.

Washington was not available for comment yesterday. He is married,
lives in Virginia Beach and has a job with Support Services of Virginia. He
will celebrate his fifth wedding anniversary and his 47th birthday in
May.

"If the court signs off on it, obviously it's the end of a very, very
long road," said Robert T. Hall, one of Washington's lawyers. "Earl will
be relieved, and we'll be relieved that Earl will be taken care of for
the balance of his life."

Kevin Hall, spokesman for Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, said he could confirm
that there is a tentative settlement, "but until the court signs off on
it, I'm not at liberty to say a whole lot more."

http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173350428382