Virginia Court of Appeal Exonerates Man Behind Bars for 4 Rapes he did Not Commit on DNA Evidence

Yesterday, a Virginia appeals court declared Thomas Haynesworth an innocent man Tuesday, clearing his name and acknowledging that he spent 27 years behind bars for rapes he did not commit.
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The case shows how far Virginia has come in allowing convicts to argue their innocence. Historically, prisoners were barred from introducing new evidence more than three weeks after sentencing, and in the 1990s, then-Attorney General Mary Sue Terry (D) famously said, “Evidence of innocence is irrelevant.”
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When DNA testing resulted in hundreds of exonerations nationwide, it prompted Virginia lawmakers to open the door for courts to reconsider guilt based first on genetic evidence and later on other evidence, such as recanted testimony, fingerprints or ballistics. Remarkably, after the DNA evidence was presented, Haynesworth's lawyers had to fight off nine months of pleadings from the prosecutors. Nine extra months in prison. That’s Virginia justice?
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See: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/thomas-haynesworth-exonerated-in-rape-case-after-27-years-in-prison/2011/12/06/gIQAua5yaO_story.html?tid=pm_pop