3 of the ‘Norfolk Four’ get pardons

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine yesterday granted conditional pardons to three of the "Norfolk Four," sailors convicted in 1997 of the rape and murder of an 18-year-old newlywed Navy wife in Norfolk.

The conditional pardons mean the three will be released from prison soon, perhaps as early as today.

Kaine said the fourth of the accused, Eric Wilson, already is out of prison, so a conditional pardon was unnecessary in his case. The four convicted in the slaying of Michelle Moore-Bosko had petitioned for a full pardon, but Kaine said he did not do so because he felt they "have not conclusively established their innocence."

They all confessed, he said, adding "no one else has been asked to disregard so many confessions."

"However, I conclude that the petitioners have raised substantial doubts about their convictions and the propriety of their continued detention. I therefore grant conditional pardons to Danial Williams, Derek Tice and Joseph Dick, the three petitioners who remain incarcerated."

He noted that no evidence was found at the scene linking them to the crime and that their confessions varied in important ways from the actual facts.

Kaine's action, announced at a news conference, pleased neither the victim's mother, nor the families of the Norfolk Four.

"Let him walk in our shoes. Let's see how he would feel," Moore-Bosko's mother told The Associated Press from her home in Pittsburgh. She suggested that Kaine bowed to political pressure.

At a news conference at the Troutman Sanders law office in downtown Richmond, Rachel Tice, mother of Derek Tice, said: "We are overjoyed to finally have our sons back, but are saddened that Governor Kaine failed to recognize their actual innocence. Our sons lost more than a decade of their lives. We must make sure that a tragedy like this never strikes another family."

All eight parents of the Norfolk Four were present.

The Norfolk Four case attracted national attention. Mystery writer John Grisham wants to write a screenplay about the case. Former FBI agents, four former attorneys general of Virginia, and a past president of the Virginia State Bar supported clemency.

Three major Washington-based law firms, joined by the Richmond firms of Troutman Sanders and McGuire Woods, provided pro bono representation of the defendants.

Don Salzman, a lawyer with the Washington law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, said the stigma of a conditional pardon will hang over the three for the rest of their lives, making it hard for them to find employment.

Salzman said the governor's pardon powers cannot be appealed. While lawyers will continue to press the case, it may be up to a future governor to grant absolute clemency, he said.

Salzman blamed the confessions on the fact that the defendants were threatened with the death penalty, questionable use of lie detectors, and "intense psychological pressure."

In Virginia, a governor may grant various types of pardons. A conditional pardon typically is granted if a governor decides that someone who is under a sentence of the courts needs to have that sentence changed. Through March, Kaine had granted two conditional pardons during his tenure.

A governor who becomes convinced that a convicted person did not commit the crime may grant an absolute pardon. Kaine has granted three absolute pardons during his tenure.

In April, Kaine granted absolute pardons to two men whose rape convictions were brought into question by DNA testing in recent years.

Kaine, asked whether the case raises questions about Virginia's criminal-justice system, said the Norfolk Police Department administered lie-detector tests poorly. He also said, as a result of the case, the Virginia State Police now are making audio and video recordings of all confessions.

Salzman said a careful reading of the confessions should have made the defendants' innocence more believable. Kaine said he spent hours listening to the confessions, some of which he said "made me sick to my stomach."

After their convictions, the men claimed their confessions were coerced.

A fifth man, Omar Ballard, later was convicted and has said he alone raped and killed Moore-Bosko. Only his DNA evidence was found at the scene.

Virginia Attorney General Bill Mims said yesterday that the state had supported the convictions of the four aggressively.

"I have the utmost respect for Governor Kaine and am confident his decision was made with great care," he added.

Wilson was convicted of rape and since has been released from prison after serving 8½ years. Tice, Dick and Williams each received two life sentences. Ballard also is serving two life sentences.

Contact Tyler Whitley at (804) 649-6780 or .