Another innocent man avoids death

During the presidential campaign, then-Republican nominee George W. Bush said he was certain that no innocent person had been executed on death row in Texas.

More than a year ago, Illinois Gov. George Ryan demonstrated more wisdom when he declared an indefinite moratorium on executions in the state. He couldn�t, in good conscience, declare that innocent people were not possibly being executed, having watched more than 10 men on Illinois death row walk free after being cleared by DNA evidence.

In Virginia on Feb. 5, Earl Washington Jr. was the latest inmate innocent of the death penalty crime for which he was convicted to walk out of prison�having spent just short of 10 years on death row. In fact, Washington had come within nine days of being executed in the electric chair in 1985 before being granted a stay.

In 1993, then-Gov. Douglas Wilder, who is Black, commuted Washington�s sentence based on DNA tests that cast doubt on his guilt. He was later exonerated when more DNA evidence became available.

A mentally challenged man, Washington confessed to the 1982 rape and slaying of Rebecca Lynn Williams. No fingerprints or biological evidence connected him to the crime.

Washington�s case is a model example to demonstrate how the death penalty in America continues to be a tool used to victimize Blacks and Hispanics, those who can�t afford good legal counsel and those who are mentally and emotionally challenged. He was scheduled to go to Capitol Hill to meet with legislators about the specifics of his case. The problem is that Virginia officials wouldn�t allow him to leave the state because of a parole restriction. But Washington�s supporters are probably more correct about the real reason: His case would expose too much of the blatant abuse in application of the death penalty.

It is time to call a halt to all death penalty cases until a system of fairness and justice is implemented in its application. Executions should be halted until defendants are allowed proper representation and reigns put on aggressive prosecutors who seek conviction of the weak to fatten their portfolios for when they want to seek political office. Then they hold up their record of executions as badges for being "hard on crime."

In Washington�s case, as in many others, prosecutors actually withheld evidence that would have cleared him.

There are many issues in the case that highlight what is wrong with the application of the death penalty. We urge Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) not to let the ban on Washington�s travel keep them from meeting him.

There�s a saying that goes: If the mountain can�t come to Muhammad, then Muhammad must go to the mountain.