Case Status:
On August 6, 2009, three of the Norfolk Four received conditional pardons from Governor Tim Kaine. Derek Tice, Danial Williams, and Joseph Dick, Jr. have been released from prison and rejoined their families after more than 11 harsh years in prison. Please click here for the Norfolk Four press release.
On September 14, 2009, Judge Richard L. Williams of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia granted Derek Tice’s federal habeas petition and overturned Mr. Tice’s conviction. In the opinion, Judge Williams finds that the state trial court’s grant of Mr. Tice’s habeas petition based on the violation of his constitutional rights was correct, and that the Virginia Supreme Court’s reversal of that decision was an “objectively unreasonable” application of federal law. Click here to read the opinion in its entirety.
get involvedDR. WERNER U. SPITZ, M.D.
Summary of Forensic Pathology Analysis of Bosko Murder
After reviewing a significant amount of the record evidence surrounding Ms. Bosko’s murder, including the autopsy notes, the crime scene video, pictures of Ms. Bosko taken by the Commonwealth, statements of the Norfolk Four, and Statements of Omar Ballard, Dr. Werner Spitz concluded that the wounds suffered by Ms. Bosko were inflicted by a single perpetrator, and were not inflicted by multiple assailants, as the Commonwealth has claimed.
Biography
Dr. Werner U. Spitz, M.D., one of this country’s most experienced and well-respected forensic pathologists, is a Professor of Pathology at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Michigan, Adjunct Professor of Pathology at the University of Windsor in Canada, and a forensic pathologist and toxicologist consultant. He has served as the Chief Medical Examiner for Macomb County, Michigan, the Chief Medical Examiner for Wayne County, Michigan, and the Deputy Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore, Maryland.
Dr. Spitz has published more than ninety scientific articles in medical journals, as well as a textbook that is considered to be the leading authority on forensic pathology. He has testified numerous times in high-profile cases, including the wrongful death suit against O.J. Simpson, and has testified before the House of Representatives regarding the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Jr. and Martin Luther King, Jr. During his 52 years as a forensic pathologist, he has either performed or supervised nearly 60,000 autopsies.
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