3 of 3 DOCUMENTS
Copyright 2004 Landmark Communications, Inc.
The Virginian-Pilot(Norfolk, Va.)
November 11, 2004 Thursday The Virginian-Pilot Edition
SECTION: LOCAL, Pg. B4
LENGTH: 215 words
HEADLINE: High court denies request by Va. State Police to keep Washington's files secret
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
BODY:
associated press
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday denied a request by the Virginia State Police to keep secret
its files relating to a murder that wrongly sent Earl Washington Jr. to death row.
The denial was issued by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist.
"We hope this particular waste of taxpayers' money is at an end and the state can devote resources to compensating
Earl Washington," said Eric M. Freedman, an attorney for Washington.
Washington came within nine days of being executed for the 1982 rape and murder of Rebecca Lynn Williams, 19,
in Culpeper .
DNA testing won Washington a full pardon in 2000, but authorities said he was still a suspect in the case.
In its appeal to the court, Virginia State Police argued that its continuing investigation will be "severely
undermined" if it must comply with a 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision ordering the release of the files.
U.S. District Judge Norman K. Moon of Charlottesville , had ordered the documents unsealed, granting a request by
The Washington Post, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Virginian-Pilot , The Associated Press and the Virginia Free
Press Association.
A three-judge panel of the appeals court upheld the ruling, and the full court denied the state's motion for rehearing.
LOAD-DATE: November 13, 2004