THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 17, 1996 TAG: 9610170318
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LYNN WALTZ, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 98 lines
A Virginia Beach man who spent seven years in prison for a rape and robbery he did not commit was pardoned Thursday by Gov. George F. Allen.
Troy Lynn Webb, 29, who was serving a 47-year sentence, was cleared of the crime last month after new DNA testing by the state showed he could not have been the rapist.
On Thursday, Allen telephoned Webb at Keene Mountain Correctional Center in Oakwood, telling him of his regrets for Webb's wrongful imprisonment and offering to help him adjust to his new life of freedom.
``I could tell he was somewhat nervous,'' Allen said in an interview Wednesday afternoon. ``I told him I'd pardoned him and that I was sorry he was imprisoned. Part of the conversation was personal. He said, `Thank you very much. I really appreciate you pardoning me, Governor.' ''
Allen said he told him ``the best thing he can do after he gets over the happiness of being released, he should try to get a job and become a productive, law-abiding member of the community.'' Allen said Webb told him, ``You don't have to worry about that. That's what I'm going to do.''
After Webb talked to Allen, he left the prison in Southwestern Virginia for the long drive to his mother's home in Virginia Beach - in the warden's car. Webb was not available for comment.
Before Allen talked to Webb, he called the victim, who was a 25-year-old waitress at Streamers in Virginia Beach when she was raped. The attack took place in the parking lot of her Green Run apartment complex on Jan. 24, 1988, after she got off work.
Allen said calling the victim was difficult. ``I thought she should know,'' he said. ``She was understanding of it. I told her I was sorry she had to relive that horrible period in her life. She took it well as far as I could determine.
``I am deeply aware of the pain and anguish already suffered by the victim in this case,'' Allen said in a separate written statement Wednesday. ``However, I have no choice but to conclude that a jury afforded the benefit of the DNA evidence . . . available to me today likely would have reached a different conclusion regarding the guilt of Troy Lynn Webb.''
Allen said one of his duties was to correct ``errors of justice,'' saying Webb's was such a case.
Webb was 22 when he was convicted Feb. 12, 1989, by a jury of robbery, abduction, use of a firearm and rape, and sentenced to 47 years. The victim identified Webb in a photo line-up 17 days after the rape.
Webb's photo was available because he had been convicted - with four others - for the 1985 gang rape of a 14-year-old girl. Webb, then 17, was present during the crime but did not take part. He received nine months in jail, with the rest of a five-year sentence suspended.
Webb petitioned Allen for clemency in the 1988 rape and robbery on Sept. 24, after the state's Division of Forensic Science compared DNA in semen from the rape and Webb's DNA and concluded that the samples came from different people.
Allen praised the state's forensic division Thursday, calling the lab a ``leader in the nation in the use of DNA technology.'' Allen said if DNA was appropriate to prove guilt, it was appropriate to prove innocence.
Dr. Paul Ferarra, head of the forensic division, said he was pleased to hear of the pardon. ``It just goes to show, if you're innocent, DNA is your best friend, (and) if you're guilty, it's your worst enemy,'' Ferarra said.
With the rape now unsolved, the governor asked Ferarra to run DNA from the crime through the state's databank of DNA from convicted felons to look for a possible match. Virginia leads the nation in ``cold hits,'' or crimes solved by matching DNA from crime scenes with DNA from felons.
DNA testing was not available at the time of Webb's trial.
The clemency petition was filed by the Innocence Project at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York. The organization works to free people who have been wrongfully convicted of crimes.
Joining in the clemency request were Commonwealth's Attorney Robert Humphreys and prosecutor Pamela Albert, who tried the case.
``I'm happy that the technology available now with DNA can enlighten us,'' Albert said Thursday. ``We still had the evidence actually introduced at trial. I'm pleased that was available and that the technology was available. The technology is valuable both in the pursuit of identifying a criminal and extremely valuable at excluding someone.''
Allen said he felt the jurors in 1989 did the best they could, given the evidence they had at the time. ``I can find no fault with the verdict of the jury based upon the evidence available to it at the time of trial, nor with the actions of the attorneys for the Commonwealth or the court,'' he said in the written statement.
Webb is the fourth Virginia prisoner to be released after DNA technology showed they could not have committed the crimes they were convicted of.
In 1994, Edward Honaker, a Nelson County man, was exonerated of rape by DNA evidence and freed. That same year, Walter Snyder, an Alexandria man convicted in 1986 for the rape, sodomy and burglary of a neighbor, was released with help from the Innocence Project and prosecutors.
In 1989, David Vasquez, a retarded Arlington County man who pleaded guilty to the 1984 murder of an Arlington woman, was exonerated and released.
Honaker received a $500,000 relief package from the General Assembly. Allen said Thursday he did not know whether Webb would receive similar help. Allen told Webb the state would help him get a job if they could. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Troy L. Webb
KEYWORDS: DNA PARDON RAPE VIRGINIA by CNB