Friday, December 14, 2012
A federal judge must first consider whether the state has complied with his previous orders before he decides whether to grant relief to Justin Wolfe.
Attorneys for Justin Michael Wolfe argued during a hearing in federal court Thursday that a Sept. 11, 2012, confrontation between the original Prince William prosecutors and a key witness has so tainted the case that Wolfe cannot get a fair trial related to the March 15, 2001, murder of Daniel Robert Petrole Jr. The same federal court previously vacated Wolfe’s conviction for ordering Petrole’s murder, based in part on admitted triggerman Owen Merton Barber IV’s testimony in November 2010 that Wolfe was not involved. The case was remanded back to Prince William prosecutors, who withdrew from the case a day after hauling Barber into the assistant warden’s office and explaining he could still face capital punishment during a meeting recorded…
Friday, October 26, 2012
A Prince William County Circuit Court judge appointed Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Raymond Morrogh in October to prosecute the Justin Wolfe murder-for-hire retrial.
Nearly five dozen former judges, prosecutors and other attorneys signed a letter this week criticizing the appointment of the Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney as special prosecutor in a decade-old capital murder case, and his decision to retry the defendant. A Prince William County Circuit Court judge in September appointed Raymond Morrogh to prosecute the case during the retrial of Justin Wolfe, a Chantilly High School graduate, who was convicted over a decade ago for ordering the murder of his drug supplier, Daniel Petrole Jr., of Centreville. Wolfe's conviction was thrown out by a federal judge last year, and the vacation of his sentence was subsequently upheld by an appeals court. The courts also criticized Prince William County …
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Prince William County prosecutors have been subpoenaed to explain why they met with the admitted triggerman in the case last month.
A hearing to discern why Prince William County prosecutors and others met with the admitted triggerman in a murder-for-hire case was delayed Tuesday as a former death row inmate prepares to be tried for a second time in the case. Owen Merton Barber IV pleaded guilty more than a decade ago to gunning down Daniel Robert Petrole Jr. in Bristow. Attorneys representing Justin Michael Wolfe—the man whose conviction for Petrole’s murder was overturned in federal court—want to know why Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul B. Ebert and others met with Barber on Sept. 11. The hearing was delayed until Oct. 31. During Tuesday's hearing, Prince William County Circuit Court Judge Mary Grace O’Brien also set a Jan. 2 start date for Wolfe’s new trial, with the …
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Sources say the Democratic candidate for Prince William County chairman may be under investigation in connection with the foreclosure of his home last year. Lateef has not responded yet.
Several Prince William County politicos have told Patch today that the Democratic candidate for county chairman, Babur Lateef, might be the target of an investigation into the foreclosure and auction of his home last year and that state party leaders may be asking him to bow out of the three-way race. Lateef and his campaign manager have not returned numerous phone messages or emails since 9 a.m. but at least one Virginia political pundit has been blogging about the situation since yesterday. Virginia Virtucon's Jim Riley blogged that sources told him that Prince William County Commonwealth's Attorney Paul Ebert's office is investigating Lateef for alleged wire and bank fraud, but that would be unlikely because both Ebert and Lateef are …
Dusty Smith
7:18 pm on Friday, December 14, 2012
Sorry about that. He's the U.S. District judge. I added it to the story. more ›