THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 18, 1996 TAG: 9610180512
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LYNN WALTZ, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 115 lines
After seven years in prison for a rape he didn't commit, Troy Webb spent his first night of freedom wide awake. Every time he tried to sleep, he jumped up and looked out the window.
``Am I really home? Is it over?'' Webb asked himself over and over as he gazed out into the darkness. If he slept, he was afraid he would wake to see bars from his prison bunk, not the walls of his mother's house.
And he would discover it had only been a dream.
Thursday morning's bright sun brought with it the realization that it was all true. Gov. George F. Allen had really called him at the prison Wednesday afternoon. Webb had really been pardoned and released from a 47-year sentence. He had really walked out of Keene Mountain Correctional Center a free man. He was really home.
As Webb, 29, fielded questions from a dozen reporters in front of his mother's Lynnhaven townhouse Thursday morning, he was unemotional about his release after DNA tests had showed he could not have committed the crime.
He said he had no bitterness or anger. He said he had known that he would be released, as soon as the state agreed to do DNA testing on evidence kept from the rape and robbery of a 25-year-old Virginia Beach waitress in 1988. It was just a matter of time - and keeping the faith.
``I had no feeling when I walked out of the jail (Wednesday),'' he said. ``Everybody said I should react, but I didn't. . . . I cried (the first) four years. I guess I cried out all my tears then.''
Wednesday night, Webb's mother was the first of 30 relatives to greet him when he arrived around midnight after his long ride from the far western part of the state. She wept and told him she loved him. Webb almost cried, but didn't, he said.
Thursday, wearing gray sweat pants, a white T-shirt and white sneakers, Webb said his desires for his first day of freedom were simple: He wanted to buy a 7-foot sub from Philadelphia Cold Cuts and try to eat the whole thing.
There was also the lost playtime with the 11 nieces and nephews he had never seen, all born during his years in prison. And there were the seven sisters and three brothers he hadn't seen in five years. So much catching up to do.
``He's a pretty remarkable guy,'' said Louise Hochberg of the New York-based Innocence Project, which helped get Webb pardoned. ``It's hard to come through this without feeling hostile and bitter. He has a generous spirit.''
``I got that from my mother,'' Webb said. ``The first thing Mom said was that she loved me.''
Webb found out about the Innocence Project from his cellmate and contacted the organization in 1993. The Innocence Project is part of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and works to free innocent defendants using DNA. Lawyers there reviewed his case carefully and determined it had merit.
During the summer, they contacted prosecutors in Virginia Beach, who agreed to have the evidence tested with newly developed DNA technology. On Sept. 7, the results were released: DNA in semen from the crime scene did not match Webb's DNA.
Prosecutors joined in the clemency petition, which was filed Sept. 24. Allen granted the unconditional pardon Wednesday afternoon.
``It made me realize it could happen to anyone,'' Webb said.
Webb's attorneys said they will petition the General Assembly to have the state provide him with financial assistance.
``Troy has maintained his innocence from the beginning. Now he has been vindicated,'' said Hochberg, of the Innocence Project. ``Nothing can repay him for his years in jail. But a bill to compensate for the lost years in jail would allow him to start over with dignity and security.''
During Thursday's news conference, Hochberg and one of Webb's attorneys, Gerald T. Zerkin, advocated changing a Virginia law that prohibits new evidence from being introduced in court after 21 days.
``Some states have no limits,'' Hochberg said. ``New York allows new evidence at any point. DNA wasn't even available (when Webb was convicted). DNA is extraordinary. Everybody realizes that. The law needs to be changed.''
Webb is the fourth Virginia prisoner to be released after new DNA technology established their innocence. All were pardoned. Nationally, the Innocence Project has helped release 30 people.
Zerkin and Hochberg thanked Allen for having ``integrity'' in this case. ``But clemency is political. It always has been,'' Zerkin said. ``It's not the proper place to consider new evidence.''
Webb was convicted Feb. 12, 1989, when he was 22. The victim identified Webb from a photo lineup 17 days after the rape.
Webb's photo was available because he had been convicted - with four others - for the 1985 gang rape of a 14-year-old girl. Webb, then 17, was present during the crime but did not take part. He received nine months in jail, with the rest of a five-year sentence suspended.
When Allen talked to Webb Wednesday, he asked Webb if he was angry with the victim, Webb said.
``The guilty verdict was the hardest thing to deal with,'' Webb said. ``But one day I decided I couldn't be bitter with everybody because everybody didn't put me in jail. Gov. Allen asked me if I had any bitterness to the victim. I said no. He asked if I was going to be law-abiding. I said no problem. I'm not going back there (to prison).''
Webb said prison didn't change him and that he took advantage of the opportunities provided there. A Kellam High School dropout in 10th grade, Webb got his GED, worked out lifting weights and took up art.
``I did positive things,'' said Webb, a powerfully built man. ``I wouldn't call myself an artist, but I made (greeting) cards. I drew roses and hearts with flowers with colored pencils and pastels. I learned in prison. I got along pretty well.''
Webb concedes that he was robbed of his youth but says he put his anger aside long ago. ``If I let my anger get to me, I'll try to escape or fight, and get more time,'' he reminded himself in prison.
He said the other inmates and guards believed he was innocent and urged him to fight for his release. He said he'll miss the friends who helped him.
``I left the guys my address,'' he said. ``A couple of good guys kept me on track, showed me things in the Bible to help me. I always went to church, even in jail.''
``I feel better because I'm out,'' he said. ``Now I'll relax and get back to work, maybe doing landscaping or janitorial. I can do anything now. I feel good.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
BILL TIERNAN
The Virginian-Pilot
Troy Webb, with lawyer Louise Hochberg
KEYWORDS: PARDON by CNB