Grant pardon in old rape case

Virginia's parole board is reviewing the case of Victor Burnette, a Richmond man who spent eight years in prison for a 1979 rape he always said he didn't commit. Burnette wants a pardon, and the evidence indicates he deserves one.

Until a few years ago, no one had reason to give his case a second thought. But then five other men convicted of rape were exonerated through DNA tests on decades-old biological evidence.

Then-Gov. Mark Warner ordered an expansive review of 534,000 old criminal files to see whether stained fabric or hair samples existed. If DNA from those crime scenes could be tested, the state could confirm defendants' guilt or exonerate them.

Burnette had heard about DNA testing shortly before he was released from prison in 1987. As soon as he was free, he pedaled by bike to the state's forensic science office to request a test. He was told the evidence had been destroyed. Again in 2005, after Warner ordered a sweeping review of the cases, Burnette asked the state to take another look. The following year, according to two Virginia Supreme Court filings and a pardon application with Gov. Tim Kaine, tests showed Burnette's DNA did not match the sperm left by the victim's attacker nearly 27 years earlier.

His case is the oldest of at least nine in which DNA evidence has conflicted with a jury's finding of guilt. (One, which the state declined to identify Wednesday, is from Hampton Roads.) The findings demonstrate Burnette's admirable persistence in the face of repeated scorn by officials, and it reminds us, again, of the need for thorough review. Interestingly, the rape victim, now 48, who identified Burnette as her attacker, says she doesn't believe the test results.

However, Richmond's commonwealth's attorney, Michael Herring, said though the tests don't prove Burnette is innocent, they cast enough doubt to warrant a pardon. His office told the parole board - in 2006 and again this month - that he did not object to a pardon.

Burnette, now 56, said he didn't talk publicly about his test results until recently because he didn't want news of the case to hurt his home improvement business. The stigma of a rape conviction, to customers who didn't know the history, could ruin him, he said. After his release from prison, he couldn't get a job.

That's precisely why it's so important to conduct these tests, to review these cases thoroughly, and to remove the stain of guilt from people who should not have been imprisoned.

The governor, as the last step in the process, needs to make it right, as much as is possible - for the sake of those falsely accused and for the sake of criminal justice in Virginia.