Mercy in Virginia

Prosecutors normally block attempts to right a wrong but not in this case

A young man released from prison in 2007 for a wrongful robbery conviction avoided being sent back behind bars yesterday for violating probation. The General Assembly this year awarded Teddy P. Thompson a compensation package that included a $51,999 lump-sum payment and a $207,996 annuity -- to be paid over 25 years -- for the seven years he spent in prison for a robbery he did not commit.

The Virginia Department of Treasury confirmed that Thompson was given a check for $44,199.15 on July 31. That amount was the $51,999, minus a 15 percent cut because of the current state budget shortfalls. His annuity, which will be reduced similarly, still is being arranged.

Thompson, 26, was released in September 2007 after the victim in a 2000 robbery realized he mistakenly identified Thompson as the perpetrator. Prosecutors sought and won a court order vacating the sentence, and Thompson was released.

But Thompson had admitted to another robbery for which he received a 10-year suspended sentence. Yesterday, he was facing up to three years for violating the terms of the suspended sentence -- among other things for a conviction for breach of the peace.

But though Judge Wilford Taylor Jr. of Hampton Circuit Court found that Thompson, who has bipolar disorder and has applied for disability, violated parole, he said he believes Thompson is now in compliance with probation provisions and did not send him back to prison.

"I don't think that you need to be incarcerated two to three years," Taylor told Thompson. Earlier, a probation officer told Taylor that since April, Thompson has been clean of drugs and has been complying with the terms of his probation.

Valerie Bowen, an assistant commonwealth's attorney, told Taylor that this current brush with going back behind bars may have "scared [him] straight . . . I don't have any objection to maybe giving him a second chance."

Thompson's lawyer, Thomas Burcher, told the judge, "We've gotten his attention."

"He doesn't have maybe the toolbox that everybody else needs to have to get through life," Burcher said. But Burcher said Thompson had strong family support and was working hard, complying with his probation conditions and staying drug-free.

Thompson's wrongful conviction was set aside by a Hampton judge in 2007, though Virginia law bars the use of any evidence of innocence discovered more than 21 days after a case becomes final.

Unlike in most cases, however, the commonwealth's attorney's office sought Thompson's freedom. A spokesman for the governor's office said Thompson has a clemency petition pending in which he is seeking a pardon for the wrongful conviction.

Original report here




(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where you can find out what is going on. During prolonged downtimes, posts will appear on the mirror site instead of the primary site)