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

DATE: SATURDAY, January 15, 1994                   TAG: 9401150220
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

INMATE'S LIFE TO BE SPARED

Wilder, whose term ends today, said the DNA testing done last year "raises a substantial question" about whether Washington raped and fatally stabbed Rebecca Williams in her Culpeper apartment in June 1982.

"Even with this new evidence, however, questions continue to remain concerning the independent validity and strength of other evidence, including the confessions of Earl Washington Jr.," Wilder said in a statement.

Attorneys for Washington, 33, said the confessions should be discounted because the inmate is mildly retarded and easily suggestible.

But Wilder said trial evidence "reveals he had knowledge of evidence relating to the crime which it can be argued only the perpetrator would have known."

The governor said that if the jury and appeals court had seen the DNA evidence, however, "their opinions as to the appropriate conclusion may have been different."

Washington signed a document Friday night after meeting with his lawyers stating that he agrees to the conditions of the clemency order, said Lisa Katz, Wilder's press secretary.

Wilder said Washington's eligibility for parole would be determined by the appropriate authorities, who must also consider his 30-year sentence for an unrelated break-in.

The commutation of his death sentence does not prevent Washington from seeking a new trial, the governor said.

Robert T. Hall, one of Washington's attorneys, said he was deeply disappointed that the inmate was not pardoned. He estimated that Washington would not be eligible for parole for 22 years.

"I feel like he should have gotten a full pardon," said Charles R. Lane Sr., president of the NAACP's Culpeper branch. "I'm glad that he spared his life, but I'm not happy with the full decision."

But Washington's cousin, James Grayson of Bealeton, said he was overjoyed. "This is what I've been praying for for the last 11 years," he said.

Washington's lawyers had asked Wilder to pardon the inmate on the basis of the DNA evidence. Tests done on sperm from the crime scene uncovered a genetic trait not found in Washington or the victim or her husband.

During his four-year term, Wilder commuted the sentences of two other death-row inmates who said they were innocent. The governor allowed 14 executions.