Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 24, 1993 TAG: 9304240342
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BONNIE V. WINSTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NOTTOWAY LENGTH: Long
Striding from behind the iron bars of Nottoway Correctional Center, Snyder nervously chewed gum and smiled Friday afternoon as he stepped into the spring air of freedom and the joyous arms of his waiting family.
The 27-year-old was released courtesy of a pardon issued earlier in the day by Gov. Douglas Wilder. A new genetic test proved he did not commit the rape, sodomy and sexual assault that has kept him imprisoned since 1986.
After seven years, six lawyers and $85,000 to $90,000 spent on his defense, Walter Sr. and Edith finally had their son.
DNA tests in January from fluids collected from the crime scene in 1986 showed Snyder could not have committed the offenses. The Alexandria commonwealth's attorney's office, which prosecuted Snyder and won a 45-year sentence in the jury trial, did an about-face in light of the new evidence and petitioned Wilder for Snyder's release.
The governor, who insisted early this week that he would not be rushed into a decision, finished his review Friday. "If [DNA] can be used to convict, it must also be used to protect the innocent," Wilder said in announcing Snyder's "absolute pardon."
While he said he could "find no fault" with the jury's verdict based on the evidence it had at the time, Wilder noted that "it is very possible that had DNA been perfected as a forensic tool in 1986 . . . it would have reached a different verdict."
Snyder's supporters criticized a long-standing Virginia law that prohibits courts from considering evidence obtained more than 21 days after the convicted person has been sentenced. State lawmakers agreed this year to study the law.
"If new evidence crops up that could change the outcome, there shouldn't be any limit on its introduction," said Kent Willis of the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia. "The governor acted in fairness and justice today, but the system should be designed so that innocent people don't have to depend on one man for their freedom."
Del. Clifton Woodrum, D-Roanoke, who is expected to be named chairman of the legislative study, voiced similar sentiments. "I like having a mechanism that establishes a way for an individual to enforce a right, rather than to have to rely on an act of grace" by the governor, he said.
But Woodrum was wary of suggestions there should be no deadline for the production of new evidence, warning that could encourage frivolous motions by inmates and their lawyers.
John E. Kloch, Alexandria's commonwealth's attorney, said the 21-day deadline was "irrelevant" in Snyder's case.
"We have an appropriate procedure in these instances, the procedure was followed and it worked," Kloch said.
While Kloch questioned whether time may alter a DNA sample, he said he had no choice but to seek Snyder's release in light of the scientific findings.
"I've been in touch with the victim; and she still believes, will always believe and will probably go to her grave believing that Walter Snyder raped her. The only person who absolutely knows is Walter Snyder.
"From a personal standpoint," Kloch continued, "I hope my family would stand by me in an unfortunate situation like his has stood by him."
Snyder's mother, Edith, got word of the pardon Friday morning at the family's Alexandria home. By 1 p.m., she and Walter Sr. were headed to Nottoway, with the black jeans and Bob Marley T-shirt stuffed into a grocery bag for Snyder to wear home.
"I told my supervisor a long time ago that when this day came, don't expect to see me for a week," the senior Snyder said.
Pardon in hand, Snyder refused any more prison food and told authorities what he really wanted was a lobster and some Haagen Dazs Oreo cookie ice cream. The paperwork to free him was complete well before his parents' 4:15 p.m. arrival in a Dodge Dynasty filled with love.
"It is great! Just great!" said Edith Snyder, her eyes brimming with tears.
"I am just thankful [Wilder] did it," she said. "I always believed he was innocent."
She wrote to Wilder and other elected officials, and even called England to find the DNA expert quoted in a Newsweek article. Her bitterness over her son's conviction, she said, slipped away long ago, though she and her husband said Friday they'll encourage Snyder to seek recompense from the state for his seven lost years.
Yellow decorations in her Alexandria yard, symbolizing her faded hopes, were replaced hurriedly Friday by fresh yellow flowers, bows and banners of welcome.
"I've decorated everything," she said.
Waiting outside Friday, she hugged Snyder's fiancee, Eileen Moats, 24, who rushed to Nottoway from her Staunton home when she got word the father of her 2-year-old daughter was to be released.
In October 1989, she quit her job as a control-room officer at Augusta Correctional Center, where Snyder then was being held, to pursue her relationship with him.
Although she'd heard other convicts proclaim their innocence, she said something about Snyder made her believe.
"He was so honest with me, so caring for me. I went to see his mother and I looked through the [trial] transcripts. I knew he was innocent. I just hoped and prayed this day would come. When I see him, I'll probably faint," she said.
Minutes later, Snyder almost swaggered down the long sidewalk toward the prison's main gate.
He raised his fist in a final salute to those behind him, a triumphant greeting to those awaiting. Then he hugged every family member in sight.
"I'm just glad that it's over with," he said, facing the cameras and the questions and an uncertain future. "Family support and belief in the most high God" got him through the last seven years, he said.
And what will he do now?
"Just live. Just live. Just live."
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.