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A federal judge has done for a member of the Norfolk Four what Gov. Tim Kaine wouldn't: He erased the convictions against Derek Tice for the rape and murder of a Navy wife in 1997.
The ruling should end the legal troubles of one of the four sailors, none of whom had criminal records before the horrendous charges. It also should prompt appeals on similar grounds by the other three men.
U.S. District Judge Richard L. Williams' decision on Monday echoed what a Norfolk judge had ruled in 2006 - that Tice had invoked his right to remain silent during police questioning, and that his lawyers should have objected to jurors hearing the statement Tice gave after being threatened with execution.
Williams said Tice's conviction was "awash in doubt" and that the Virginia Supreme Court's ruling that overturned the Norfolk judge's decision was "objectively unreasonable."
The state attorney general, who now must decide whether to appeal Williams' ruling, should let this 12-year-old case rest. It was fraught with problems from the beginning.
No fingerprints, blood, semen or hair linked the four sailors - Tice, Joseph Dick Jr., Danial Williams and Eric Wilson - to the apartment where Michelle Moore-Bosko was killed. Their confessions, obtained using improper police tactics, conflicted with each other and all of the evidence.
The cases wound through the courts for years, convictions affirmed on narrow issues but never after a review of all the evidence. Meanwhile the men, three of whom were serving life sentences, sat in prison.
Dozens of criminal justice experts - former federal prosecutors and judges, FBI agents, nine attorneys general as well as 13 jurors - independently pored over confessions, crime scene video and photographs, autopsy reports, DNA profiles and police techniques, looking to confirm guilt. All concluded the Norfolk Four were innocent.
Last month, citing grave doubts about their guilt, Kaine granted conditional pardons to the three still in prison. The pardons, however, did not erase their convictions. Tice, a former emergency medical technician who is now 39, found it nearly impossible to find a job and had to register as a sex offender.
The man responsible for attacking and killing Moore-Bosko, Omar Ballard, is in prison for life. The other men, erroneously charged with the crimes, had honorably served their country before their freedom and their ability to pursue a family and a career were taken away. In the coming months, they deserve a chance, untethered by convictions, to find whatever happiness is out there.
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Norfolk Four
My young friend Danial Williams is home with his family now. He is a registered Sex Offender, wears a tether, & can only leave the house between 8:00 A.M. and 1;00 P.M. I took him out to breakfast and we could not go to my favorite restaurant because it was too near a school. I agreed to give him a reference for a job but it does not look good. In spite of this he is cheerful and glad to be out of prison. Guilty persons released from prison get more help than innocent people as far as help with new lives, jobs and support. I went to a welcome home party for Danial and met his entire family, which is large. There must have been 100 people there including neighbors and friends and all very supportive.
Congratulations to Derek Tice on his exoneration and would Justice Williams please see to it the other three sailors are exonerated as well. Let Danial Williams get on with his life.
I happen to be friends of
I happen to be friends of Jack and Carol Moore(parents of 18 year old murder victim Michelle Moore-Bosko). The facts of this extremely involved case are not as cut and dry as you would imply. Perhaps you may want to visit the Moore's website norfolk4guilty.com to hear first hand the chilling taped confessions of these "innocent men". I have a difficult time feeling sorry for your friend Danial Williams and the "restrictions" placed on his life. Michelle Moore didn't have a chance for any life. The Moore family has endured a long and painful process since Michelle's death in 1997. They did not have high powered attornies and special interest groups working on their behalf. In my opinion the judicial system appears to have let them down. Hopefully, you will never have to endure such hardship.
Michelle Moore Bosko
Lets not forget who the victim is here. Shelly is .
For anyone out there who beleives any of these men are innocent--including the 3 men that were never charged with the crime should have been in the courtroom. Derek Tice had 2 guilty verdicts 2 different times. What I learned about these men at trials would make your skin crawl. Unless you were at the trials you don't have a right to an opinion. You have not heard any of this first hand. You can't beleive everything you read and hear. Spend time in the court room and your opinion just might change.
This case
is another reason why the death penalty should be abolished. If they had received the death penalty, and they could have considering the nature of the crime, 3 innocent men would be dead.
With a criminal justice system as flawed as the one we have in this country, the idea of having an irreversible punishment is mind boggling.
There have been about 100 DNA exonerations from death row. That alone should be enough to convince our leaders to abolish the ultimate penalty.
It would be an interesting..
thing to witness if these 4 guys who may be exonerated, and the detectives and police who conducted their interrogations, are assembled in the same room. We know there are tapes of them 'confessing' but do transcripts exist of the interrogations themselves? But being able to question the police officials on how and why they went about their 'techniques' could answer a lot of questions here. This is a sad, horrible event, first the murder of that poor girl, and now real questions about these guys guilt. Another question I have is: did the Navy conduct any kind of investigation themselves? I know they had no jurisdiction for the obvious aspects of it, but seeing how 4 guys who apparently had good, clean records, both in the service and outside, were charged then convicted, that would have generated some interest in that.