#236 Jason Flom with Thomas Haynesworth

Wrongful Conviction

Lava for Good Podcasts

True Crime

4.6 • 5.7K Ratings

🗓️ 15 December 2021

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In just the first month of 1984, five women from the ages of 18 to 20 were sexually assaulted in East Richmond, Virginia. One victim saw an 18 year old named Thomas Haynesworth while he was walking to his local grocery store and called the police naming him as her attacker. Thomas was eventually convicted for three of the sexual assault incidents and sentenced to a total of 74 years in prison. Even though the assumed perpetrator was in custody, the rapes continued throughout East Richmond. Leon Davis, Thomas’s neighbor, was eventually arrested and convicted for a dozen incidents over the remainder of 1984. DNA testing ultimately confirmed that Leon was responsible for the crimes for which Thomas was convicted, and Thomas was finally exonerated in 2011 after spending 27 years in prison. To learn more and get involved, visit: https://lavaforgood.com/with-jason-flom Wrongful Conviction is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts in association with Signal Co No1.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Beginning on January 3rd, 1984, and stretching over the next five weeks, five women were victims
0:07.9	of some degree of sexual assault in East Richmond, Virginia.
0:12.0	Due to the location, nature of the attacks, and similar descriptions of the assailant,
0:16.4	police believed that there was a single attack.
0:19.0	On February 5th, 1984, 18-year-old Thomas Haynesworth was misidentified by one of the victims
0:24.6	that arrested.
0:25.9	All five victims eventually echoed the misidentification.
0:29.6	Two of the attacks included biological evidence, but in 1984 with no DNA testing available,
0:35.9	serology could only determine that Thomas' blood type matched that of the attacker.
0:41.5	After one of the charges was dropped, he was tried four separate times, convicted in three
0:46.3	cases, and sentenced to 74 years.
0:49.6	Although Thomas was in custody, the assaults continued through December of 1984, concluding
0:54.8	with the arrest of Leon Davis, a neighbor of Thomas'.
0:58.4	According to both men, they strongly resembled one another.
1:02.3	Despite their similar appearances, and the continued attacks, authorities maintained that
1:06.6	both men were guilty.
1:08.0	Finally, in 2005, DNA testing excluded Thomas from his only conviction in which there was
1:14.1	biological evidence, simultaneously inculpating Leon Davis.
1:19.3	After an investigation of prosecutors joined Thomas and the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project,
1:23.8	laying responsibility for all of the attacks on Mr. Davis.
1:27.9	Yet, even without opposition, Thomas' case just barely succeeded in the court of appeals,
1:34.0	but nevertheless, he was finally exonerated after 27 years.
	...

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