THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 17, 1996 TAG: 9610170002
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A18 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 45 lines
Virginia Beach Commonwealth's Attorney Robert J. Humphreys and Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Pamela H. Albert should be commended for supporting a wrongly convicted rapist in his bid for clemency.
Recent DNA testing has proved that Troy Lynn Webb could not have committed the 1988 rape for which he was convicted by Humphreys' office in 1989. Webb has already served more than seven years of his 47-year prison sentence.
Humphreys, who sometimes uses DNA evidence to help convict defendants, said that in order to be consistent he must press for Webb's release since DNA tests exonerate the man. Another prosecutor, faced with a similar situation, might choose to do nothing.
And it was Pamela Albert who readily authorized the release of the evidence in the case so that Webb could avail himself of scientific tests which were not available at the time of his trial.
In a letter, Humphreys has asked Gov. George F. Allen to grant executive clemency to Webb because scientific tests conducted by the state lab ``. . . conclusively prove that Troy Webb could not have'' raped the victim. ``We believe the validity and integrity of DNA testing by the Division of Forensic Science supports (granting clemency) in this case as do the ends of justice.''
Humphreys and Albert are doing the right thing. And the public ought to thank them for vigorously pursuing justice, they ought to ask also why the public defender in the Webb case chose to present no evidence during the then-19-year-old's largely circumstantial-evidence trial. An aggressive defense might have spared Webb these many years in prison.
Local prosecutors and police usually do a thorough job of investigating crimes, but mistakes inevitably happen. When they do, justice demands that the state act quickly to see that no innocent person spend an extra minute behind bars.
Governor Allen's office is reviewing the Webb case now. We urge the governor to act quickly on Webb's clemency plea.
At the same time, Virginia Beach police need to reopen their investigation of the case, even though many of the leads have probably grown cold.
With the wrong man in prison, the brutal criminal who abducted and raped a Virginia Beach waitress at gunpoint one January night in 1988 may still be at large.
KEYWORDS: DNA by CNB