eight years ago. Te first was that of Darrell Copeland, who was convicted of felony firearm possession in 2006. It was later proved that the gun Copeland had was a "gas gun," which uses compressed gas to fire a round and does not fit Virginia's legal definition of a firearm.6
Te second was the case of Tomas Haynesworth, who
spent 27 years in prison for three rape convictions based largely on eyewitness testimony.7 DNA evidence later proved that one of the rapes was committed by another man, a convicted rapist who lived nearby and resembled Haynesworth, but no evidence remained to be tested in the other two cases. Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, Michael Herring, the Commonwealth's Attorney for the City of Richmond, and Wade A. Kizer, then Commonwealth's Attorney in Henrico County, supported Haynesworth's efforts to obtain a writ of actual innocence. Despite their support and the compelling evidence of Haynesworth's innocence, when the case went before the Virginia Court of Appeals in December 2011, it resulted in a 6-4 decision with strongly worded dissenting opinions. Te dissents were motivated by the court's obligation
to adhere to the high standard set for a writ of actual innocence, a standard that many legal experts believe is too stringent. For example, the law prohibits anyone who has pleaded guilty to a crime from filing for a writ of actual innocence. Minors are also excluded from seeking these writs. "After eight years of living with the writ of actual innocence,
I believe many reasonable people are coming to believe that the standard for relief is too onerous," Tate said. "We can have a strict standard, but one that is reasonably structured so that if society has a compelling case, it can grant relief." Attorney General Cuccinelli has been vocal in his support of
revising the laws to make obtaining a writ of actual innocence less rigorous. "It shouldn't be easy to obtain a writ of actual innocence, but
the problem is that the process is both tough and convoluted," he said. "What we'd like to do is make it clearer. It should always be a high standard to prove innocence, but even so, it should be clear how one does that." Te awareness of wrongful convictions raised by DNA testing is also changing how criminal investigations are
1 Lithwick, Dahlia. "Te Exoneration of Bennett Barbour." Slate Magazine. N.p., 12 Mar. 2012. Web. .
2 Green, Frank. "Va. DNA Data Support Innocence of 33 Convicted of Sex Crimes, Study Concludes." Richmond Times-Dispatch. N.p., 18 June 2012. Web. .
3 See Va. Code Ann. ยง 19.2-327.1, et. seq. 4 See Va. Sup. Ct. Rule 1:1. 5 In Re: Bennett S. Barbour, Case No. 120372, Virginia Supreme Court (May 24, 2012). 6 Copeland v. Commonwealth, 52 Va. App. 529, 664 S.E.2d 528 (2008). 7 Haynesworth v. Commonwealth, 59 Va. App. 197, 717 S.E.2d 817 (2011).
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