NORFOLK, Va. – Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has pardoned a man who served 22 years in prison for a role in a drive-by shooting in which testimony indicated he wasn’t involved.
Northam appeared via video call to announce the news to Bobbie Morman Jr., his family, and The Innocence Project, a nonprofit at the University of Virginia School of Law, The Virginian-Pilot reported.
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Morman was 18 when he was arrested in the August 1993 shooting and was charged with three counts of attempted malicious wounding, as well as firearms charges. He was convicted in a jury trial and sentenced to 48 years in prison. The Virginia Court of Appeals and the state Supreme Court later denied Morman’s appeals.
Eyewitnesses identified Morman as one of the people in the car, although the men who were in the suspect vehicle testified that he was not among them. Another man who was never interviewed by police, Glen Payne, testified at the trial that he had committed the crime.
The Innocence Project took up Morman’s case in 2015.