Norfolk Four

The Norfolk Four are four men, Derek Tice, Danial Williams, Joseph J. Dick Jr., and Eric C. Wilson, who were convicted in 1999 for the 1997 rape and murder of Michelle Moore-Bosko in Norfolk, Virginia. Their convictions were the source of controversy, as their convictions were largely based on confessions which the men maintain were coerced with threats of receiving the death penalty if they did not plead guilty. Organizations such as the Innocence Project protested the convictions as a "miscarriage of justice", while Moore-Bosko's parents continue to believe that all those convicted were participants in the crime.[1][2]

Three of the four men, Tice, Williams, and Dick, were sentenced to one or more life sentences in prison without the possibility of parole due to their having either pleaded guilty to or having been convicted of the murder, while Wilson was convicted of rape and sentenced to 8½ years in prison. Three other men, Geoffrey A. Farris, John E. Danser, and Richard D. Pauley, Jr., were also initially charged with the crime, but their charges were later dropped.

A fifth man, Omar Ballard, was also convicted of the crime and was sentenced to 100 years in prison, 59 of which were suspended. He is the only man whose DNA matches that found at the scene, and his confession states that he committed the crime by himself, with none of the other men involved. Forensic evidence is consistent with his story that there were no other participants.[3]\source of controversy, as their convictions were largely based on confessions which the men maintain were coerced with threats of receiving the death penalty if they did not plead guilty. Organizations such as the Innocence Project protested the convictions as a "miscarriage of justice", while Moore-Bosko's parents continue to believe that all those convicted were participants in the crime.[1][2]


DNA evidence taken from the scene did not match Williams or Dick, which led a jailhouse informant to prompt Dick to name a co-conspirator. Eric Wilson was then named.[3] The DNA did not match Wilson either and Dick indicated that a fourth man, whom he called "George" but whom he identified from photographs as Derek Tice, was also involved.[4] Tice confessed and implicated three more men in the crime, and insisted that the group had broken into the apartment, which contradicted earlier evidence that showed that the apartment did not appear to have been broken into. Since the DNA evidence did not match Tice, the police got Dick to name three other men as co conspirators. These men were ultimately never charged because they had ironclad alibis including one who was internet chatting with his girlfriend at the time of the murder and another who records showed had withdrawn money from a cash machine hundreds of miles away within minutes of when the murder had occurred.[5] Critics of the police case also noted that the stab wounds to Moore-Bosko were all of a uniform depth and clustered closely together. This seemed to contradict the prosecution's assertion that multiple men had taken turns stabbing her, but seemed consistent with a scenario where one assailant stabbed her multiple times.

Trial

Williams, Wilson, and Tice were each brought to trial in 1999, with Williams pleading guilty to rape and capital murder in the hopes of getting a life sentence in exchange for a stipulation of facts.[3] Lawyers for the three men mentioned that none of their DNA matched that found at Michelle's apartment, to which prosecutors stated that the lack of DNA evidence couldn't disprove that the defendants weren't at the scene.[6] Williams was found guilty of rape and sentenced to eight and a half years, while Dick received life without parole and Tice received two consecutive life sentences.[7]

Omar Ballard

On Jan. 15, 1998, Omar Ballard pleaded guilty to the rape of a fourteen-year-old girl. In February of the same year, he sent a letter to a female acquaintance threatening her and indicating that he had murdered Michelle Moore Bosko.[8] It was later discovered that Ballard was an associate of Michelle Moore Bosko. Tamika Taylor, who had introduced Ballard to the Boskos and knew about his history of violence towards women, had told the police that they should investigate him as a possible suspect.[8] Ballard was later investigated for the crime and arrested after it was discovered that his DNA matched that found at the crime scene.[8] Ballard confessed to the crime, giving a description that aligned with the physical evidence. Despite police pressure to implicate Williams, Tice, Dick, and Wilson, Ballard insisted that he had committed the crime alone, saying that "those four who opened their mouths were stupid".[8] The police incorporated Ballard into their theory of the crime, but insisted that Ballard refused to name his accomplices for fear of being labeled a "snitch" and that the other men, who had been willing to implicate others in the crime, were afraid of Ballard and thus refused to implicate him.[5]

Retrials and aftermath

Williams appealed his verdict but was denied in 2000.[3] Tice's conviction was reversed in 2002 by the Virginia Court of Appeals because Judge Poston had not allowed Tice's attorney to question Ballard about his written confession.[3] During the retrial, Poston refused to allow the confession or statements in as evidence because they were not "properly authenticated", but the judge did allow Tice's attorney to read the confession letter aloud.[3] Despite the retrial, Tice was again sentenced to life in prison.[3]

In 2005 attorneys for Dick, Williams and Tice petitioned for clemency from Virginia governor Mark Warner. Warner did not rule on the petition, and it was considered by subsequent Virginia governor Tim Kaine. The claims of innocence were backed by several FBI agents as well as eleven of the jurors who initially convicted them.[9][10] Tice's conviction was overturned on November 27, 2006 by a circuit court on constitutional grounds, but the conviction was reinstated by the Virginia Supreme Court.[11] Tice filed a petition for habeas corpus with a United States District Court, and on September 14, 2009, U.S. District Court Judge Richard L. Williams vacated Tice's murder and rape convictions, on the ground that Tice had been denied his constitutional right to effective counsel. On November 19, 2009, Judge Williams ruled that prosecutors can retry Tice. On April 20, 2011, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed Judge Williams' rulings vacating Tice's convictions.[12] Tice was later freed in 2011 after the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that Tice's confession should have been thrown out of court.[13] On August 6, 2009, Kaine granted a conditional pardon to Dick, Tice, and Williams, releasing them from prison while not erasing their convictions.[14] Part of the conditional release states that the three men are required to register as sex offenders and felons.[15]

Wilson was released in 2005, but must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. In March 2010, he asked the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia for a writ of habeas corpus challenging his conviction. The court refused to hear Wilson's case, saying that since he was not in prison, on probation, on parole or on supervised release, he was not in custody and therefore could not petition for habeas. A panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit also refused to hear the case.[16]

Former detective Glenn Ford was later indicted on May 2010 on an unrelated extortion charges of accepting payments from criminal suspects in return for favorable treatment,[17] with him being found guilty of two of the four counts against him.[18][19] This prompted attorneys for the Norfolk Four to call for full exoneration of their clients and in 2013 the Yale Supreme Court Advocacy Clinic filed a petition for the Supreme Court to clear Wilson's record of his crimes.[20][21] Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli did not file a response, but the Supreme Court ordered him to file a brief by April 25, 2013.[22] On June 24, 2013, Wilson's petition was denied. The case is Wilson v. Flaherty, No. 12-986.[23]

Film

Literature

Television

See also

References

  1. ↑ Jackman, Tom (December 15, 2008). "Clemency Campaign Renews Misery". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
  2. ↑ "Norfolk Four". Innocence Project. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/the-confessions 2013 "Case Timeline"] Check |url= value (help). line feed character in |url= at position 56 (help)
  4. ↑ "Questions swirl around conviction of 'Norfolk Four'". The Argus-Press. Dec 28, 2005. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  5. 1 2 Berlow, Alan (19 August 2007). "What Happened in Norfolk". New York Times. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  6. ↑ Wells, Tom (2008). The Wrong Guys: Murder, False Confessions, and the Norfolk Four. New Press. ISBN 1-59558-401-3.
  7. ↑ Knepper, Cathy D. (2011). Jersey Justice: The Story of the Trenton Six. Rivergate Books. pp. 210–212. ISBN 0-8135-5127-7.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Warden, Rob (2009). True Stories of False Confessions. Northwestern University Press. pp. 424–425. ISBN 978-0-8101-2603-9.
  9. ↑ Urbina, Ian (2008-11-10). "Retired F.B.I. Agents Join Cause of 4 Sailors". The New York Times (The New York Times Company). Retrieved 2010-11-10.
  10. ↑ Jackman, Tom (January 6, 2006). "Jurors Back Clemency for 'Norfolk 4'". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
  11. ↑ "Press Room - Virginia Circuit Court Judge Overturns Derek Tice Conviction". The Justice Project. 30 November 2006. Archived from the original on 12 July 2007.
  12. ↑ Tavernise, Sabrina (20 April 2011). "Virginia: Court Upholds Ruling for Ex-Sailor". NY Times. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  13. ↑ "The Confessions: One of the "Norfolk Four" Cleared of Rape/Murder Charges". http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/2011/08/the-confessions-one-of-the-norfolk-four-cleared-of-rapemurder-charges.html. External link in |work= (help);
  14. ↑ "Final 'Norfolk 4' suspect released Fri.". Wavy.com. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  15. ↑ "Ex-sailor petitions to clear name of slaying". The Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  16. ↑ Wilson v. Flaherty from United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
  17. ↑ McGlone, Tim (2010-05-11). "Norfolk ex-detective accused of taking money from suspects". The Virginian-Pilot (Landmark Media Enterprises L.L.C.). Retrieved 2010-11-10.
  18. ↑ "The Confessions: Introduction". Frontline. November 9, 2010. Retrieved 10 November 2010.
  19. ↑ Dana Hedgpeth (February 25, 2011) Prison for 'Norfolk 4' detective, Washington Post.
  20. ↑ Tavernise, Sabrina (November 5, 2010). "Officer’s Extortion Conviction Prompts Calls for Full Exoneration of ‘Norfolk Four’". New York Times.
  21. ↑ "Supreme Court Advocacy Clinic Files Petition with High Court Over Norfolk Four Case". Yale. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  22. ↑ Adam Liptak (April 1, 2013). "Out of Prison? For Some, That Might Mean Out of Luck". The New York Times. Retrieved April 2, 2013.
  23. ↑ "ERIC C. WILSON, Petitioner, v. W. STEVEN FLAHERTY, SUPERINTENDENT, VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF STATE POLICE, Respondent. On Petition for a Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit PETITION FOR A WRIT OF CERTIORARI" (PDF). Yale Law School. February 2013. Retrieved April 2, 2013.
  24. ↑ Jackman, Tom (July 8, 2009). "John Grisham to Write a Screenplay About the 'Norfolk Four' Case". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
  25. ↑ "THE WRONG GUYS". New Yorker. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  26. ↑ "Review: The Wrong Guys: Murder, False Confessions, and the Norfolk Four". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  27. ↑ "Review: THE WRONG GUYS". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  28. ↑ "Eight Men Out". IMDB. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  29. ↑ "The Confessions". PBS. Retrieved 25 March 2013.

External links

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