
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 5, 1994                   TAG: 9401050119
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

ASSEMBLY MAY MODIFY CAPITAL EVIDENCE LAW

A bill that will be studied by the General Assembly would offer exceptions to the state law that governs when new evidence in capital cases may be considered.

Virginia law forbids any new evidence from coming before a court more than 21 days after a verdict.

In recent capital cases, defendants' attorneys have appealed to Gov. Douglas Wilder to consider new evidence after the courts would not. Wilder now is considering whether to pardon a condemned man.

Earl Washington Jr., who is mildly retarded, confessed to a 1982 rape and murder in Culpeper. But a recent DNA test casts doubt on his guilt.

The attorney general's office has argued that the 21-day law prevents abuses by inmates to delay their executions.

"I wouldn't want to appear soft on crime," Del. Richard Cranwell, D-Roanoke County, said Monday. "But if a condemned person can show innocence, as bloodthirsty as I am . . . I think we ought to give them another bite at the apple."

Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1994

by CNB