Innocent Man Walks After 12 Years in Prison
He had been wrongly convicted of murder of an elderly woman
Sometimes in recent months, Michael Wayne Hash would head out to his parents' garage, where they'd moved most of the paperwork from his case into four giant plastic tubs and three chest-high filing cabinets, and he would read through the files his mother had meticulously organized: sentencing orders, affidavits, transcripts, opinions.
"I would love to see these gone," he said earlier this summer. "But I don't think we'll ever stop talking about [the slaying] till it's actually solved."
On Monday, Hash walked out of the Culpeper County courthouse with the charges against him dismissed, 12 years after being wrongly convicted of murder. Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Ray Morrogh, who had been brought in to reassess a case that has raised widespread concerns about deceit and misconduct, asked the judge to dismiss all charges and lift any legal constraints against him.
Hide Comments (0)
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post commentsMute this user?
Ban this user?
Un-ban this user?
Nuke this user?
Un-nuke this user?
Flag this comment?
Un-flag this comment?