RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — An attorney for a man who came within days of being executed in Virginia for a murder he didn’t commit has filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against a state agency that’s withholding records the attorney believes will show authorities could have gotten the right suspect.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that attorney Robert Hall, who has represented Earl Washington Jr. since 1985, filed the lawsuit Tuesday against the Department of Forensic Science. Washington narrowly escaped being executed after police led him into a false confession.
The department has denied Hall’s requests twice and his lawsuit asks a judge to find the Freedom of Information Act was violated and order the department to turn over the records.
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