In Hash v. Johnson, Judge Turk of the W.D. Va. held that Virginia inmate Michael Hash should be released from prison and that the Virginia Supreme Court erred in its 2009 opinion rejecting his post-conviction claims for relief on account of prosecutorial misconduct - based in part on a stack of letters that a prison snitch had written to another judge of the W.D. Va., hoping to get out of his federal time for testifying against Mr. Hash.
The Commonwealth's Attorney for Culpeper was and is Gary Close, who seems to be an interesting fellow, and who graduated from U.Va.-Wise, the University of Tennessee, and the law school at William & Mary. Mr. Close was re-elected without opposition in 2011.
One of the lawyers for Hash in his original trial was named Michael Hemenway. I don't know whether it is the same guy, but there is a lawyer blogger in Charlottesville named Mike Hemenway, also an interesting fellow who gets to court on his motorcycle.
The lawyer who filed the summary judgment motion for Mr. Hash in the case before Judge Turk was Matthew Bosher of Hunton & Williams (not to be confused with the Matt Bosher who kicked a field goal and seven extra points against Virginia in 2009). The challenge of overturning a murder conviction twice affirmed by the Virginia Supreme Court can only be overcome by outstanding legal work.
The Richmond paper had this article about Judge Turk's decision.
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