On May 22, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled (2 – 1) that the fed­er­al District Court over­stepped its author­i­ty when it barred any fur­ther pros­e­cu­tion of Justin Wolfe. The Circuit Court upheld the low­er court’s order requir­ing Virginia to either retry Wolfe or release him, and it fur­ther held that Virginia failed to com­ply with that order. In 2002, Wolfe was con­vict­ed of con­spir­a­cy and sen­tenced to death in the mur­der of a drug deal­er in Virginia. His con­vic­tion was based pri­mar­i­ly on the tes­ti­mo­ny of the actu­al shoot­er, Owen Barber, who claimed that Wolfe hired him to kill the vic­tim because of an out­stand­ing debt. In 2010, Barber tes­ti­fied that his tes­ti­mo­ny at Wolfe’s tri­al was false, and that Wolfe had noth­ing to do with the mur­der. The con­vic­tion was over­turned by the District Court because the state had with­held cru­cial evi­dence from Wolfe’s lawyers. The Court of Appeals had upheld that rul­ing ear­li­er. In the cur­rent rul­ing, Judge Thacker, writ­ing in dis­sent, would have barred any re-pros­e­cu­tion: ​“The mis­con­duct of the Original Prosecuting Team has taint­ed this case to the extent that Wolfe’s due process rights are all but obliterated….The Commonwealth’s mis­con­duct has con­tin­ued far too long, and the cumu­la­tive mis­con­duct per­me­at­ing this case has taint­ed it in such a way that it is doubt­ful Wolfe will receive a fair and just tri­al. Enough is enough.”

(J. Borden, ​“Justin Wolfe can be retried for cap­i­tal mur­der in Pr. William, 4th Circuit rules,” Washington Post, May 22, 2013). Read full-text of the 4th Circuit’s rul­ing. For more details, vis­it DPIC’s page on Justin Wolfe. See Innocence.

Citation Guide