Holland, Hogan, Skadden Help Win Sailors' Freedom in Norfolk Four Case
Three sailors in the controversial Norfolk Four case have won their freedom, with aid from three law firms working pro bono on the matter for the last five years.
On Thursday, Virginia Gov. Tim Kane granted conditional pardons to the men, who claim their confessions to the crime were coerced, the Washington Post reports. A fourth sailor already released from prison was not pardoned.
Kaine said he was reducing the men’s sentences to time served and was not granting an absolute pardon because they had not conclusively established their innocence. “However, I conclude that the petitioners have raised substantial doubts about their convictions and the propriety of their continued detention,” he said.
No physical evidence tied the sailors to the killing and rape of Michelle Moore-Bosk. DNA found at the scene matched that of another man who pleaded guilty and said he acted alone. The case attracted the attention of legal novelist John Grisham, who said he plans to write a screenplay about the sailors’ plight. “It’s the most egregious case of wrongful conviction I’ve seen, and I travel around the country listening to stories about these cases,” Grisham told the Washington Post last month.
The Innocence Project worked on behalf of the men, along with Holland & Knight, Hogan & Hartson, and Skadden Arps, the New York Times reports. The men, who are expected to be freed today, are Derek Tice, Danial Williams and Joseph Dick Jr.
George Kendall, a senior counsel at Holland & Knight who works exclusively on pro bono matters, told the Times that jurors in the Norfolk Four case were never told that the detective who obtained the confessions had previously been reprimanded for obtaining false confessions.
“These young men, who were serving their country, were railroaded by coerced confessions,” he told the Times.
