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Thomas Haynesworth (born March 21, 1965) is an African American Virginia man who spent 27 years in state prison for crimes he was exonerated of in 2011. Haynesworth was arrested at the age of 18 in 1984 after a woman identified him as her attacker. He was convicted of a series of violent rapes in Richmond, Virginia, now believed to have been committed by a neighbor who resembled Haynesworth, and was sentenced to 84 years in prison. Haynesworth maintained his innocence throughout the years. In 2009, new state laws and procedures allowed for DNA testing, which was not available in the 1980s, and semen collected from the first attack implicated the neighbor. After reviewing this and other evidence, local prosecutors brought the case to the office of Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who began advocating for Haynesworth. His convictions in two of the cases were vacated, and he was released from prison on parole in March 2011. Haynesworth was fully exonerated in the remaining two cases in December 2011. The case, which ''The Washington Post'' called "one of the state’s most extraordinary legal cases",〔(Cuccinelli tries to help convicted felon Haynesworth clear his name )〕 utilized DNA testing and new state laws that allowed possibly innocent convicts to present new evidence. ==Convictions== Over the course of four weeks in the winter of 1984, five women were assaulted in a series of attacks in and around the East End neighborhood of Richmond. On January 3, 1984, a 20-year-old woman was raped at knifepoint near the daycare center where she worked.〔(National Registry of Exonerations - Thomas Haynesworth )〕 On January 21, an 18-year-old woman was sodomized at knifepoint near a grocery store.〔 On January 27, a woman was approached outside her home by a man demanding money and sex; she locked herself inside and called the police while the man fled.〔 On January 30, an 18-year-old woman was abducted, raped, and sodomized in nearby Henrico County, within blocks of the other attacks.〔 And on February 1, a 19-year-old woman was abducted at gunpoint outside her home, but the attacker fled when the woman's dog began barking.〔 Given the locations and nature of the attacks, and the description of the attacker, police believed one man was responsible. On February 5, 1984, the victim of the January 27 attack saw Haynesworth walking near a grocery store (where his mother had sent him to buy groceries), and believing him to be her attacker, called the police. A police officer pulled up next to Haynesworth, and asked if he would allow a woman whose house was broken into to look at him.〔 The woman identified him and he was arrested.〔 He was identified by all four other women in a police lineup. Haynesworth was brought to trial in four separate cases in 1984. (Charges were dropped in the January 27 attack despite the victim of that attack having been the one to identify him first.〔) He maintained his innocence, saying they had the wrong man, but was convicted in three of the four trials, with sentences of 10 years, 36 years, and 28 years in prison, for a total of 84 years in prison.〔 Although Haynesworth was in custody, rapes continued to occur in the same neighborhood, with at least ten young women reporting they were attacked by a young black man who referred to himself as the "Black Ninja".〔 On December 19, 1984, Leon Davis, who resembled Haynesworth, had the same blood type, and lived nearby, was arrested and charged with a dozen rapes from the nine months after Haynesworth's arrest.〔( After 27 years in prison, Richmond man nears proof of innocence )〕 After Davis's arrest, the rapes stopped, and Davis was later sentenced to multiple life terms in jail.〔 Haynesworth continued to maintain his innocence. He rejected advice from fellow inmates who told him to apologize when he came before the parole board to increase his chances of an early release.〔(Thomas Haynesworth fully exonerated by Va. appeals court )〕 While imprisoned, Haynesworth earned his GED and studied auto mechanics, welding, and masonry, while writing letters to local newspapers, law students, and ''60 Minutes'' pleading for help.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Thomas Haynesworth」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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