Misconduct in a murder investigation?
By Washington Post Editorial Board | MARCH 11 2012
An alleged accomplice testified in gruesome detail about how Michael Wayne Hash, then 15 years old, shot and killed an elderly Virginia woman in 1996. Two other witnesses swore that Mr. Hash confessed. It did not take long in 2001 for a Virginia jury to convict him and sentence him to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Mr. Hash, now 31, is one of the fortunate few who secured help from the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project and the Hunton & Williams law firm. His mother’s perseverance also paid off when she discovered information that shattered the credibility of a pivotal witness. Last month, a federal judge threw out Mr. Hash’s conviction after characterizing the case as a “miscarriage of justice.” A key investigator in the case, Scott H. Jenkins, was elected Culpeper County sheriff last year; Gary L. Close was Culpeper’s commonwealth’s attorney during the Hash prosecution and continues to hold that office today.