Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 26, 1994 TAG: 9408260073
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
In a red brick, Montvale home, Ed Honaker's family anxiously waited Thursday, as they have for months.
Honaker's mother didn't stray far from a telephone. She hoped to hear that her son would soon be out of jail.
She did not.
"My nerves are so bad, I can hardly write my son a letter," Anna Honaker said.
Her son has been in jail for close to 10 years, serving three life sentences plus 34 years for the 1984 rape of a Newport News woman. Ed Honaker always has maintained his innocence.
Friends and family have said they were virtually powerless to fight their way through the justice system. What could they do, they ask.
Last year, they relinquished the battle to Centurion Ministries Inc., a prisoner-advocate organization in New Jersey.
On Thursday, the organization pledged to fight a legal war for Honaker. Gov. George Allen said he continues to meticulously scrutinize the case - including asking police to reinterview the victim - and evaluate the new evidence.
"I have to balance all this off, along with the fact that they have not exhausted all their legal remedies and they do have legal remedies," Allen told the Roanoke Times & World-News during a visit Thursday to discuss his proposal to abolish parole. "They have very competent, believe me, very competent lawyers."
But legal experts contend that the governor may be Honaker's last true hope for freedom. Trying Honaker's case again is difficult under state law, they say. The only other option is a federal appeal.
After Honaker was convicted, his family was distraught and confused. But they have kept in touch with him - writing letters, sending money and visiting.
"We didn't really know what we could do," said Sheila Honaker, Ed's sister-in-law.
An uncle in West Virginia, who worked as a minister at a women's prison, helped put his nephew in touch with Centurion Ministries. Marion Ripley, who lives in Sinks Grove, W.Va., originally had his doubts about Ed's innocence.
"I said all [prisoners] say that," Ripley said. "But in the little time that I watched [Ed] grow up, I didn't think that he had it in him."
Ed Honaker had his run-ins with the law during his days in Roanoke. There was a breaking-and-entering conviction, some drinking and a few fights.
"When [the rape] first happened and he was first convicted, it's human nature to say you believe the courts," said long-time friend Don Shaver. "But as time went on I didn't believe it, in terms of the violence. It was so out of character."
At the moment, Honaker's fate lies in Allen's hands. That process traditionally has been an arduous, but quiet one, for chief executives, said Glenn Davidson, spokesman for former Gov. Douglas Wilder. During Wilder's term, he grappled with several cases of prisoners' requests for freedom.
"It's a very difficult situation that he took very seriously, on a case-by-case basis," Davidson said. "He never really talked about it to anyone."
Allen has three basic options, according to Roger Groot, professor of law at Washington & Lee University in Lexington. He can grant a pardon, which would eliminate Honaker's rape conviction from his record; grant clemency, which would reduce Honaker's sentence; or do nothing.
Allen cannot grant Honaker a new trial. And by state law, unless new evidence is brought forward within 21 days of a conviction, it is next to impossible to win another trial in court, say legal experts.
"The strong odds are that [Honaker] has no way in the courthouse door to present [new] evidence and have his conviction overturned," said Bill Geimer, professor of law at Washington and Lee University.
One possibility is that Honaker and the prosecutor could strike a bargain; Honaker would plead to a lesser charge and a judge would sentence him to time served.
"Everyone saves face and Honaker walks," Geimer said.
But hampering the Honaker case is the lack of public support. Allen said he has received at least a dozen letters about the case and that public opinion will not sway his decision.
"I suspect most people think he's innocent," Allen said.
Public support gave a boost to the celebrated cases of death row inmates Earl Washington Jr. and Joseph Giarratano. Wilder pardoned Giarratano and commuted Washington's sentence to life.
"Unless you get a constituency of some type together, you're unlikely to get relief from the governor regardless of the evidence," Geimer said. "There has to be some political cost imposed on the governor for not taking action."
But a groundswell of public support does not always work, said Julie McConnell, associate director of the Virginia office of the American Civil Liberties Union. Just look at the case of death row inmate Roger Coleman, she said. His case was publicized on the cover of national magazines and he still was executed.
"The public tends to think that if someone is convicted, then they are guilty," McConnell said. "And if they're not guilty, then they probably did something else," and deserve to be in prison.
The fact that Honaker is not on death row mitigates the immediacy for Allen. On a death row case, the pressure for a decision would be completely different, he said.
The next step for Honakers' supporters is unknown. His brother Wayne said the wait has been "devastating" for his family. No one will forsake Ed, say his supporters.
"But what do you think a person on the street can do," said friend Judy Shaver. "I don't know how far we can go."
Staff writer Dwayne Yancey contributed to this article.
by CNB