Virginia Lawyers Weekly

Thirty retired FBI agents have joined former justice officials and others in urging Gov. Timothy M. Kaine to grant clemency to four former sailors convicted in the rape and murder of a Norfolk woman in 1997.

The former agents – who weren’t part of the original investigation but recently reviewed the evidence – noted that it’s unusual for criminal investigators to stand up for the innocence of defendants.

But the ex-FBI agents said at a news conference last week that their review of the so-called “Norfolk Four’’ case convinced them the men were wrongly convicted based on false confessions in the slaying of 18-year-old Michelle Moore-Bosko. They dug into the case after a presentation last spring by a lawyer for one of the sailors.

Several former state attorneys general as well as prominent lawyers have also urged Kaine to grant full pardons to Derek Tice, Danial Williams, Joseph Dick Jr. and Eric Wilson, which would set three of the four free from prison. Wilson was released in 2005 after serving his 8-1/2-year sentence for rape.

“It’s our unequivocal belief that these sailors were wrongly convicted,’’ said Jay Cochran, who was an FBI special agent for 27 years. The ex-agents’ review of the facts found that a fifth man convicted in the slaying, Omar Ballard, acted alone.

Ballard, who is serving a life sentence for Moore-Bosko’s slaying, confessed to the police and repeatedly has said that he committed the crime himself. His was the only DNA found at the crime scene, and other physical evidence also linked him to the slaying, the agents said.

Kaine spokesman Gordon Hickey said that Kaine is reviewing the clemency requests. There is no timetable for any decision, he said.

Norfolk prosecutors have defended the convictions and the victim’s mother, Carol Moore, has previously said that she remains convinced of the sailors’ guilt.

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