Virginia murder conviction vacated after man spends 25 years in prison

A Virginia judge has vacated the murder conviction of Justin Michael Wolfe, freeing him after 25 years in prison, including more than a decade on death row. Judge Carl Weimer set aside the conviction after Owen Barber, the only witness linking Wolfe to the shooting of Daniel Petrole, recanted his testimony. Wolfe agreed to a plea arrangement involving marijuana and robbery-related charges and received a sentence of time served.

Petrole was killed in Bristow, Virginia, on March 15, 2001. Prosecutors said Wolfe hired Barber to carry out the shooting because he owed Petrole more than $60,000. Barber pleaded guilty in his own case and received a 60-year sentence after agreeing to avoid a death-penalty prosecution.

Wolfe denied involvement, but he was convicted in 2002 and sentenced to death. Barber later said Wolfe had not been involved and that investigators repeatedly threatened him with the death penalty unless he cooperated. Legal advocacy organisations subsequently took up Wolfe’s case.

A federal judge later found prosecutorial misconduct, vacated Wolfe’s death sentence and ordered a new trial. Further proceedings continued for years. In 2016, Wolfe accepted a plea deal that resulted in a sentence of up to 41 years and included an apology to Petrole’s family.

After Virginia abolished the death penalty in 2021, Barber signed a sworn statement in 2023 saying Wolfe had no role in the killing. Two other people also provided statements that Barber had told them Wolfe was not involved. A federal appeals panel later found Wolfe had been the victim of prosecutorial misconduct.

Wolfe’s release followed guilty and Alford pleas. An Alford plea allows a defendant to plead guilty while maintaining innocence. The county prosecutor called the resolution just and appropriate, while acknowledging differing views.

Petrole’s family asked for privacy, saying they hoped to close the chapter and remember him beyond the circumstances of his death.