Advocate of defendant in 1994 slaying sends letter to Kaine seeking pardon

By Alex Bridges -- Daily Staff Writer

WINCHESTER — After years of fighting his son's murder conviction alone, Franklin Washington may now have allies.

James Renwick Manship Sr. sent a letter this week to the office of Gov. Timothy M. Kaine seeking a pardon for Jeffrey Washington, who is serving a 70-year prison sentence for the 1994 shooting death of Carlos Marshall in Winchester.

In his letter, Manship states he learned about Washington's case after seeing the father ask a judge on Aug. 22 to recuse himself from hearing a lawsuit filed against the court reporter employed during his son's trial.

"From my readings of many lawsuits late into the night at Regent Law School Library, I am persuaded that a gross injustice continues to be done by the forced Alford plea of Jeffery Washington, also an injustice for his father, mother and son," the letter states.

Any letter seeking a pardon from the governor would have to go to the office of the secretary of the commonwealth, according to Kaine spokesman Gordon Hickey. Earlier this week, Hickey said the office had not received the letter.

In the request, Manship cites former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder's pardoning of Walter Snyder when DNA evidence cleared him of a rape for which he served seven years in prison.

Manship now wants Kaine to follow Wilder's example.

"I ask you to be wise like Wilder and pardon [Jeff] Washington, a man wrongly accused who maintains his innocence and only under duress by his defense attorney, accepted an Alford plea," Manship states.

Manship met Franklin Washington on the Loudoun Street Pedestrian Mall after seeing him in court that day. Manship, also a court reporter, an investigative journalist and occasional portrayer of the nation's first president, immediately sided with Washington. His own research of documents provided to him by the father also inspired another move.

This week, Manship also sent a "petition for a redress of grievances" to Acting U.S. Attorney Julia Dudley, in the Western District of Virginia in Roanoke, asking the office to investigate city law enforcement officials for possible violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

Manship alleges that police and the commonwealth's attorney, as well as other court officials, conspired against Washington.

"In the Commonwealth of Virginia v. Washington, a Racket of Influential and Corrupt Organizations and employees of those organizations worked together to force an innocent man to accept an Alford plea and go to jail for 14 years rather than risk a corrupt conviction with a death sentence," Manship states in the petition.

He notes that he includes documents with the petition to back his claims.

On the second day of the jury trial in the case in 1995, Jeffrey Washington entered an Alford plea to murder and other charges related to the robbery of two men. Under an Alford plea, the defendant doesn't admit guilt outright but acknowledges that prosecutors have enough evidence to convict beyond a reasonable doubt.

Judge John Wetsel Jr. sentenced Jeffrey Washington to 67 years for murder and three years for the firearms charge. He received other prison terms for conspiracy, robbery, burglary and wearing a mask during the incident, which the judge ordered to run concurrently.

The senior Washington often stands in front of the Joint Judicial Center downtown with signs averring his son's innocence and alleging conspiracies involving former Commonwealth's Attorney Paul Thomson and Judge John Prosser. Prosser served as an attorney for Washington with N. Randolph Bryant.

The father claims that Prosser told his son to enter the plea or he would face the death penalty. Previously published reports indicated that Thomson planned to seek the death penalty against Washington.

The senior Washington claims in his lawsuit filed in July that court reporter Linda Logan deliberately altered transcripts of a hearing in his son's case that subsequently removed the identity of an alleged fifth witness to Marshall's murder. The suit names Logan and Lanell Hockman, with Valley Reporting Agency of Front Royal, as defendants.

Wetsel and Prosser have since recused themselves from hearing the case, and Wetsel noted in court Aug. 28 that another judge would have to be chosen.

* Contact Alex Bridges at abridges@nvdaily.com