Michael Wayne Hash walked out of the Culpeper County courthouse a free man with his murder conviction and life sentence dismissed. The judge ruled that Hash’s actual innocence claim had merit and his conviction was infected with police and prosecutorial misconduct, including coaching witnesses and failing to disclose a plea deal with a key witness. Hash was released on bail earlier this year but still was not completely free until recently, when his conviction was finally dismissed.
Hash was convicted of the killing of Thelma Scroggins in 2000. Only, 15 years old at the time of the crime, Hash maintained his innocence and there was no physical evidence tying him to the murder. He was convicted on the basis of two witnesses including a jailhouse informant who claimed Hash confessed to the crime.
However, after the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project began investigating the case, new information began to put cracks in the witnesses’ credibility. The former sheriff and prosecutor on the case had moved Hash to another prison for the sole purpose of exposing him to the jailhouse informant. Investigators also provided crime-scene information to another witness to guide their answers to questions.
After the federal judge overturned Hash’s conviction, a special prosecutor from the Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office was appointed to determine whether to retry Hash for the murder of Thelma Scroggins. Recently, that prosecutor, asked the court to dismiss the charges but told the Washington Post, that there is still an ongoing investigation and would not rule out re-charging Hash in the future.
Hash is relieved to finally be free but the reality still had not fully set in. He told the Washington Post, “I sat in prison 12 years planning out everything I could do [when released]. [Now,] honestly, I don’t know.” Hopefully, he can enjoy his new freedom and begin rebuilding his life.
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