We are not lawyers, detectives, or judges. However this letter that arrived in the mail had some interesting evidence for the inmate's innocence. Mainly, his victims testified in an unrelated case that they lied about the rape, and that it was coerced by their mother. From my understanding neither of the girls had a reason to recant their testimony for leniency in relation to another crime. I could be wrong though. At any rate, I think it's worth bringing to public attention so that a more definitive decision might be made. Read the inmate's letter here..
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Thu, 09/24/2009 - 06:52
Five years after he was freed from prison and nearly three decades after being charged for two rapes for which he was later cleared, Norfolk's Arthur Lee Whitfield has the kind of apology that often comes at the conclusion of civil suits: a financial settlement. The monetary mea culpa - a compensation package valued at roughly $633,000 - comes from lawmakers who ushered legislation through the General Assembly's one-day special session Wednesday.
Whitfield, who recently told The Virginian-Pilot he has liver cancer, will receive $126,573 within 30 days of the bill becoming law. A schedule for disbursement of the remaining $506,294 will be determined by Whitfield's representatives, the attorney general's office and other relevant parties.
News of the legislative relief delighted Whitfield, who underwent chemotherapy Wednesday. 642-436 He wore a baseball hat and a head scarf to the appointment because his hair has begun to fall out. EX0-101 The money means he can stop worrying about the bills he's behind on, he said. And, he added, "I can do something for the people who have taken such good care of me - my parents, Mr. Fasanaro." Michael F. Fasanaro Jr., Whitfield's lawyer, said part of the state money will come in an annuity administered by the attorney general's office. "I'm happy something is going to come out of it," Fasanaro said. Whitfield said he didn't know what he would use the money for, other than paying bills.
"I might try to move up, do a little better than I'm doing now," he said. Whitfield spent 22 years behind bars before DNA evidence exonerated him in 2004. 70-646 Already freed from prison when he asked the state Supreme Court for a declaration of innocence, the court dismissed his petition on the grounds that only individuals who remain incarcerated are eligible for such a finding.
Fri, 03/05/2010 - 00:32
Food. Quality and Quantity: For breakfast we've been served things like: 2 pieces of greasy, fried bread (just scorched on a griddle. They call it "French Toast" but it's not soaked in any egg/milk mixture at all; maybe just dragged rapidly across such a mixture so it has some on the corners), 2 spoons of "grits" (yellow, old, taste mildewy and are inedible), 3 prunes, milk (8 oz). Or: 1 egg (fried, high-heat scorched with brown skin on it), 2 biscuits, 70-680 1 child's size serving of cereal in a little plastic container and milk (8oz), 3 prunes. Or: greasy, rubbery pancakes with one or the other listed asides.