Friday, September 5, 2008

Northern Virginia Daily reports on Pardon request to Gov. Kaine


http://www.nvdaily.com/news/301609655733617.bsp

Friday, September 5, 2008
Father receives support in quest to have son freed

Advocate of defendant in 1994 slaying sends letter to Kaine seeking pardon

By Alex Bridges -- Daily Staff Writer

WINCHESTER — After years of fighting his son's murder conviction alone, Franklin Washington may now have allies.

James Renwick Manship Sr. sent a letter this week to the office of Gov. Timothy M. Kaine seeking a pardon for Jeffrey Washington, who is serving a 70-year prison sentence for the 1994 shooting death of Carlos Marshall in Winchester.

In his letter, Manship states he learned about Washington's case after seeing the father ask a judge on Aug. 22 to recuse himself from hearing a lawsuit filed against the court reporter employed during his son's trial.

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In the request, Manship cites former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder's pardoning of Walter Snyder when DNA evidence cleared him of a rape for which he served seven years in prison.

Manship now wants Kaine to follow Wilder's example.

"I ask you to be wise like Wilder and pardon [Jeff] Washington, a man wrongly accused who maintains his innocence and only under duress by his defense attorney, accepted an Alford plea," Manship states.

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