Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine granted conditional pardons Thursday to three of the “Norfolk Four,” a group of former sailors convicted more than a decade ago of raping and murdering the wife of another sailor.
The decision will free Derek Tice, Danial Williams and Joseph Dick Jr., who were all serving life sentences for the 1997 slaying of 18-year-old Michelle Moore-Bosko in her Norfolk apartment.
Kaine did not, however, grant a pardon to Eric Wilson, the fourth member of the “Norfolk Four” who was convicted of rape — not murder — and released after serving eight years in prison.
Each of the men had confessed but later said those confessions were coerced. Their guilt was called into question by DNA evidence from the crime scene, which matched only one man — Omar Ballard — who later said he acted alone in raping and killing Moore-Bosko. Ballard pleaded guilty in 2000 and was sentenced to life in prison.
Kaine’s pardon of the three men comes after a lengthy effort by the Innocence Project, a group that counts author John Grisham and former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno among its board members. FBI agents, lawyers and a homicide detective also have argued the four were wrongly convicted.
Grisham, who says the four are innocent, has said he was writing a screenplay on the “Norfolk Four” in hopes of making a movie on the subject.
In protesting the pardon, Moore-Bosko’s parents suggested Grisham, a contributor to Kaine and other Democrats, swayed the governor’s decision making.
“Obviously, Mr. Grisham’s wealth and influence are far more important to Governor Kaine’s political aspirations and public image than truth or justice,” Moore and her husband, John, said in an e-mailed statement to the Associated Press.
Efforts to reach Grisham were unsuccessful Thursday afternoon.
The men had petitioned for an absolute pardon, which would have exonerated them of the crime, but had not “conclusively established their innocence,” Kaine said.
“However, I conclude that the petitioners have raised substantial doubts about their convictions and the propriety of their continued detention,” the governor said.
The conditional pardon reduces their sentences to time served and requires them to be supervised by the state parole board.
