00:00:04
[music playing] NARRATOR: In 1984,
a young couple got lost searching for a
campsite in Virginia's Blue
00:00:12
Ridge Parkway. They decided to spend the
night sleeping in their car. They were awakened by a white
male in his mid 30s at 3:00 AM.
00:00:24
MAN: Step out of the vehicle. NARRATOR: What the
couple saw that night, their eyewitness description
of the assailant,
00:00:35
was all that police
had to go on. [music playing] When the 19-year-old woman
and her 22-year-old fiance
00:01:07
were rousted from
sleep, they assumed the man was a policeman. MAN: Move to the rear
of the vehicle, please.
00:01:16
NARRATOR: Blinded
by his flashlight, and concerned that they
had broken the law,
00:01:20
they handed over their
car keys as ordered. Suddenly, the man produced
a gun and told the fiancee
00:01:29
to run into the woods. He threatened to kill
him if he didn't obey. MAN: Move! NARRATOR: The young woman,
now terrified for her life,
00:01:40
was forced at gunpoint
into the man's vehicle. MAN: Open the door. Open it! Get in the back.
00:01:47
Keep your head down. Don't look at me. NARRATOR: He drove her
to a secluded campsite
00:02:01
about a half hour away. MAN: That's far enough. On your knees. NARRATOR: And over
the next two hours,
00:02:10
repeatedly raped
and sodomized her. Why are you doing this to me? [music playing]
00:02:25
NARRATOR: Although the assailant
had threatened to kill her, he left her on a
deserted stretch of road
00:02:31
and told her how to
get back to her car. She was traumatized, but alive. Is there anything that
you remember about this guy?
00:02:44
His appearance? His demeanor? NARRATOR: The victim said that
the rapist wore camouflage
00:02:49
pants, had a large
cross around his neck, and during the assault,
chain-smoked, drank whiskey,
00:02:55
and babbled incessantly
about Lieutenant Koleki and their experiences
together in Vietnam.
00:03:01
MAN: --leki. Koleki. [inaudible] war
hell for all of us. NARRATOR: The victim
and her fiancee
00:03:09
helped a police sketch artist
prepared this composite drawing of the assailant. Police all across
Virginia searched
00:03:17
for a man who fit
the description, but the search
turned up nothing, and police feared that
the Blue Ridge rapist
00:03:24
would never be identified. Four months passed,
and in nearby Roanoke, Virginia, there was
another sexual assault.
00:03:34
The victim said
her attacker looked a lot like one of her
neighbors, Edward Honaker.
00:03:40
Honaker had an alibi
for the rape in Roanoke and was quickly
eliminated as a suspect.
00:03:47
But investigators noticed
a striking resemblance between Edward Honaker
and the composite drawing
00:03:55
of the Blue Ridge rapist. Honaker owned an automobile
similar to the one driven by the Blue Ridge rapist.
00:04:01
It had no back seat
and had rust damage on the body, consistent
with the description
00:04:07
given by the victim. The car he was driving,
one of those big Broncos, was identified by the
victim as-- as a car
00:04:14
driven by the rapist. He had a mustache,
so did the rapist. He was about the same size,
height, weight as the rapist.
00:04:22
The case seemed to
point directly at him. NARRATOR: Police prepared
a photographic lineup
00:04:27
of six individuals to show
the victim and her fiancee. They both identified Edward
Honaker as the rapist.
00:04:40
Cam-- camoflague. NARRATOR: The rape victim and
her fiance both identified Edward Honaker as the rapist
from the photographic lineup,
00:04:48
honaker was a 34-year-old welder
with a dishonorable discharge from the military and a
past history of burglary,
00:04:57
he had recently been
hospitalized for depression because his wife had left him,
taking their three children.
00:05:04
When Honaker was questioned
about the rape in the Blue Ridge Parkway four
months earlier,
00:05:10
he didn't immediately
offer an alibi. Later, he said he was asleep in
his mother's home in Montvale,
00:05:17
78 miles away. Honaker owned an automobile
similar to the assailant's, and from his home, police
recovered clothes and jewelry
00:05:27
similar to those worn
by the Blue Ridge rapist on the night
of the attack. She described the assailant
as having worn fatigues.
00:05:37
Fatigues were
recovered at his home. She described him as having
a cross about his neck.
00:05:44
A cross was uncovered. She also said that he had told
her when this assault was over
00:05:50
that he was going back
to the Roanoke area, and honaker was living in
and about the Roanoke area.
00:05:57
NARRATOR: The final
step was to compare the hair found on
the victim's shorts with Edward Honaker's hair.
00:06:04
The expert there stated that
they were very likely to match. And that was very strong
evidence against him as well.
00:06:14
Last thing I told my mother
was, don't worry about it. I'll probably be home tomorrow
evening or the next day.
00:06:22
I thought I would go to a
line up or something, and-- and the lady, the victim, would
say, no, this isn't the guy.
00:06:28
NARRATOR: But
something else happened when Edward Honaker faced his
accuser for the first time
00:06:34
in court. PHILLIP PAYNE: He was identified
in a crowded courtroom at the preliminary hearing
by the fiance and the victim.
00:06:42
They both identified
him in the courtroom. Picked him out. Not seat-- not standing in
an orange suit up front,
00:06:48
but mixed in among the
rest of the spectators in the courtroom. MAN: Get out of here.
00:06:55
NARRATOR: Honaker's defense
lawyer noted that Honaker was right-handed,
and the assailant
00:07:00
held the gun in his left hand. The assailant ranted about
his experiences in Vietnam,
00:07:07
but Honaker was
never in Vietnam. The defense also
presented evidence that Honaker had
a vasectomy, which
00:07:15
meant he could not have
produced the sperm found on the vaginal swab. But the prosecution said
the victim and her fiancee
00:07:24
had consensual sex a few
days before the rape. The sperm could have
belonged to the fiance.
00:07:32
For the jury, it was
an easy decision. The most damaging
piece of evidence came when the victim
took the stand.
00:07:44
Henry Connor was
the jury foreman. She looked right
at the defendant, looked him in the
eye, so to speak,
00:07:53
and said, that is
the man who raped me. And we had no reason to
doubt her because she
00:08:01
was very, very sure. I had a lot of animosity
toward her and her boyfriend. I just-- I couldn't
understand why
00:08:13
they had done this to me, why
they had chosen me for this. And I just-- I-- I don't know.
00:08:22
I just-- I had a lot of
hatred for-- for both of them. NARRATOR: Edward Honaker was
found guilty of rape, sodomy,
00:08:30
and aggravated sexual battery
and was sentenced to three life terms plus 34 years.
00:08:39
The judge stated that Honaker's
hair found on the victim had sealed his fate. While Honaker was in
prison, he continued
00:08:49
to proclaim his innocence. Months went by, then years. Over time, Honaker's
attention turned
00:09:01
from proving his innocence
to simple survival. EDWARD HONAKER: You can't
show fear in prison.
00:09:08
If you do, you'll
be preyed upon. There are some of the
world's best predators locked up in a
prison cell, and they
00:09:16
will take advantage of you. They can-- they will
spot it, I think someone said once, quicker
than a lion can spot a limp.
00:09:23
NARRATOR: Over the
next five years, Honaker sent letters to
journalists, lawyers,
00:09:29
and criminal advocates
all across the country, pleading his case to
anyone who would listen.
00:09:36
No one responded. Honaker never gave up
hope, but was out of ideas. Until one day, on
television, he watched
00:09:46
the trial of Timothy Spencer,
the so-called Southside Strangler. I had watched that trial.
00:09:53
And I told a friend of
mine at the prison, Floyd, I said, Floyd, this is my-- this is my salvation.
00:09:59
This is the answer that God
has given me through all of my prayers is this DNA. NARRATOR: But
Honaker wasn't sure
00:10:07
if the vaginal swab from his
rape case had been preserved, and if it had, could it still
be tested after all those years?
00:10:21
Five years after Edward Honaker
was convicted of a rape he said he didn't commit,
one of his letters
00:10:27
made its way to Kate Germond
of Centurion Ministries, an organization
that works on behalf
00:10:33
of the wrongfully convicted. Centurion Ministries
receives thousands of letters from convicted
criminals every year,
00:10:41
but there were a number of
things about Honaker's case that caught Germond's attention.
00:10:46
KATE GERMOND: Eyewitness
testimony in our country is considered by most
people to be the most
00:10:52
profound proof of truth. That's the man that
did this to me. We all assume-- I think, through
the years, we've
00:11:01
come to believe that our
mind is like a videotape, that it just accurately
records whatever
00:11:08
we see, whatever
we hear, whatever we come in contact with. The reality is, what our memory
is actually recording is, yes,
00:11:18
what's going on in
the moment, but it's also mixed into that
is memories, dreams,
00:11:25
some little distraction. It's just a huge variety pack. So our memories are actually
not accurate at all.
00:11:34
NARRATOR: When the victim
chose Honaker's picture from the photo lineup, Honaker
was the only one standing
00:11:40
in front of a white background. The other suspects were
all photographed in front
00:11:45
of the standard height scale. Research has shown that
if one item in the array of photographs is
uniquely different,
00:11:52
such as the background, it
is more likely to be chosen. Furthermore, police lineup
should include faces that
00:11:59
have an equal chance of being
selected, faces similar to one another. Honaker's photo was
the only one of six
00:12:07
that remotely resembled
the description given by the victim. The mug shot
spread that was shown
00:12:13
to both the victim and her
boyfriend, in my opinion, is one of the most tainted mug
shot spreads I've ever seen.
00:12:20
NARRATOR: Centurion Ministries
asked the state of Virginia to release the forensic evidence
used to convict Honaker,
00:12:27
and they asked hair
expert, Dr. Peter DeForest, to analyze the hair
found on the victim's
00:12:33
shorts, which the
state of Virginia said matched Edward
Honaker's hair. PETER DEFOREST: I compared
the unknown hair taken
00:12:40
from the victim with a
known sample of Mr. Honaker, and assuming that the known
sample was representative
00:12:46
of Mr. Honaker's
range of variation, I would have eliminated
Mr. as was the donor
00:12:51
of that hair from the victim. NARRATOR: And forensic
scientists agree. There is no such
thing as a hair match.
00:13:00
You cannot match hair. There is no such
thing as a hair match. The most that you can
ever say about hair
00:13:08
testimony, hair
evidence, is that it is similar or
dissimilar, that it'd consistent or not consistent.
00:13:15
That's it. NARRATOR: And
their investigation uncovered something else. We also learned
that the victim
00:13:22
had been to a hypnotist
to have her memory hypnotically refreshed. The hypnotist notes in a
letter to the prosecutor
00:13:31
that the victim
was brought to him because she could not recall
the face of her assailant.
00:13:38
NARRATOR: Hypnotically
enhanced recollections are inadmissible as
evidence in most states,
00:13:44
including Virginia. The victim's
identification of Honaker should not have been
presented to the jury.
00:13:53
But when the victim pointed to
Ed Honaker in the courtroom, it practically ensured
his conviction.
00:14:03
The victim was very,
very convincing and very, very credible. And I think she, beyond
all shadow of a doubt, made
00:14:14
the difference in the jury's-- I know, in my own case. And there was-- I don't think there was ever
any real doubt in the minds
00:14:25
of the jurors about
about the guilt of Mr. Honaker at the time. NARRATOR: Barry Scheck was
convinced that DNA testing
00:14:35
would prove Honaker's
claims of innocence, but prosecutors and Honaker's
his new defense team
00:14:42
were in for another
surprise when the victim changed her story once again. By the time Centurion Ministries
completed their investigation
00:15:00
of Edward Honaker's
case, he had spent almost nine years in
prison for a crime he said he didn't commit.
00:15:08
Centurion Ministries gained
access to the vaginal swab taken from the victim on
the night she was raped
00:15:14
and sent it to Dr. Edward Blake
at Forensic Science Associates near Oakland, California.
00:15:21
They also sent along a sample
of Edward Honaker's blood. Centurion ministries
paid for the DNA testing,
00:15:30
which was approximately $5,000. Dr. Blake needed to identify
all of the genetic markers
00:15:38
on the swab and then
determine whether Edward Honaker could have provided
any of the markers present.
00:15:45
Dr. Blake performed a DNA
test called polymerase chain reaction, or PCR. It's a test used when
the sample is small
00:15:54
or has been degraded over time. PCR is ideally suited
to what you might consider
00:16:01
historical investigations. That is, investigations that are
maybe more than five years old.
00:16:07
NARRATOR: Dr. Blake assumed that
a cotton swab contained cells from three individuals,
the victim,
00:16:15
her fiancee, and the rapist. After Dr. Blake analyzed
the DNA from the swab, he did not believe that
Edward Honaker was the rapist.
00:16:28
The conclusions that could
be reached from the analysis of the vaginal swab alone
was that the sperm could not
00:16:37
originate from Edward Honaker. NARRATOR: But Governor
George Allen wasn't so sure.
00:16:44
He asked the Virginia
State Crime Lab to conduct their own analysis, and they
found something in the test
00:16:52
they hadn't expected. We were not as absolute
in the conclusion that Forensic Science
Associates originally came to.
00:17:01
We felt that there were some
other scenarios that might possibly explain the results.
00:17:07
NARRATOR: The Virginia
Crime Lab noticed some genetic material they could
not identify or fully explain.
00:17:14
It was a 3, 4 genetic
marker found in the sperm fraction of the PCR test. The mixture of all
of the DNA profiles
00:17:24
and the similarities
presented by the combinations of the genetic materials
meant that Honaker could
00:17:30
not be eliminated
as the contributor of the 3, 4 genetic marker. Faced with competing
scientific opinions,
00:17:39
Governor Allen asked police to
go back over the investigation one more time. As governor, you
want to make sure
00:17:48
that you have all the evidence
and have it investigated, talk to the witness,
look at the evidence,
00:17:54
run whatever tests can
be done on the evidence so that I have the full story. NARRATOR: When investigators
reinterviewed the victim
00:18:03
and told her that DNA
testing of her vaginal swab revealed some
inconsistencies, she
00:18:10
made a surprising confession. After the rape, she
married her fiance, but they had since divorced.
00:18:18
She admitted that at
the time of the rape, she was sexually involved
with another man in addition
00:18:25
to her fiance. It raised the question
about whether or not the sperm taken from
the victim's vagina
00:18:35
had any relevance to the
sexual assault on her. That's how Ed Honaker gets
brought back into the suit.
00:18:43
NARRATOR: When DNA testing
is done in rape cases, all of the consensual sexual
partners have to be identified.
00:18:52
What we have to account
for and understand is that in taking
samples like this, one has to account for prior
consensual sexual intercourse.
00:19:05
And, therefore, one has
to account for the DNA types of those individuals. NARRATOR: Sheriffs located
the second boyfriend,
00:19:17
took his DNA sample,
and scientists performed a more sophisticated DNA
test called a polymarker
00:19:25
test, which types
five genes at once instead of just one or two. The polymarker DNA test
showed conclusively
00:19:34
that Edward Honaker
was not the contributor of the 3, 4 genetic marker. Edward Honaker was innocent.
00:19:44
In October of 1994, governor
Allen called Honaker in prison and told him he was a free man.
00:19:54
He said, I feel that
that jury made a mistake. He said, as of this
moment, you are a free man.
00:20:02
What he said after
that, I have no idea. NARRATOR: After 10
years in prison, Edward Honaker walked out of the
Nottaway Correctional Facility
00:20:13
into the arms of his
family and friends. He had missed the last 10
years of his children's lives.
00:20:22
It was a gross
miscarriage of justice. The evidence of his innocence
was just overwhelming.
00:20:28
You'd have to be a
complete fool to miss it. There are many,
many limitations on the testimony
of eyewitnesses,
00:20:36
particularly in
situations where-- where there's a great deal
of not only physical trauma,
00:20:42
but emotional trauma. That's not a place
for people to make careful, critical observations.
00:20:48
I always knew deep in my
heart that I would one day get out of prison a free man.
00:20:56
Not only if-- not only get out
of prison, but proven that I did not commit that damn crime.
00:21:02
I always knew that. [music playing]