Mark Weiner’s abduction conviction was vacated by Albemarle Judge Cheryl Higgins after a Tuesday hearing on new evidence.
The Barboursville man was convicted in 2013 of abducting a young woman, but was not sentenced until June. His attorneys requested a new trial based on testimony from people who saw the woman inside the abandoned home where she said she’d been dropped off several times before her alleged abduction, but that request was denied.
Weiner’s lawyers filed another request last week after they were made aware of new evidence by Commonwealth’s Attorney Denise Lunsford. Back in February, Weiner’s alleged victim sold cocaine to an undercover informant in another jurisdiction. But Lunsford says she wasn’t notified of the sale until last week, at which time she informed Weiner’s attorney, Steve Benjamin.
Benjamin’s firm, meanwhile, learned through private investigators that just weeks after telling the jury she’d been abducted, Weiner’s alleged victim applied for a job with an escort service.
In court documents, Lunsford wrote that new information combined with the rest led to a situation in which the confidence in the outcome of the trial was undermined, and she will not try the case again.
Below is Lunsford’s statement following Weiner’s release from the Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail:
On July 8, 2015, I received new information in the Weiner case from Law Enforcement concerning events involving the victim which occurred in February of this year. This new evidence is
irrefutable and not directly related to any previously presented facts in this case. However, this new evidence, which concerns uncharged drug dealing allegations outside Albemarle County in February 2015 by the victim in the Weiner case, indirectly related to matters at issue in a hearing on May 6, 2015.
Under the law, the prosecutor is charged with knowledge of relevant information that is in the hands of law enforcement officers, whether the prosecutor herself actually knows it or not. Accordingly, although l did not know about the victim’s alleged February drug dealing until July 8,2015, it is information that the law requires to have been in the hands of the defense as of May 6, 2015, if not sooner.
Earlier this afternoon, the Court heard a motion from Mr. Weiner’s counsel to set aside the verdict and, in the interest of justice, l joined in the motion. The Court agreed with this decision,
granted the motion and Mr. Weiner will be released from incarceration this afternoon. The Commonwealth will not ask to try Mr. Weiner again for this offense.
This is one example of the incredibly difficult decisions that I and the other prosecutors in my office make on a daily basis. Violence against women is a disturbing problem in society and my office takes reports of these offenses seriously. These cases are often highly dependent on a single witness and this was one such case. In light of this additional information, when considered collectively with other information, I can no longer continue to defend the conviction and joined in the Motion to Set Aside.
My duty is and always has been to serve the citizens of Albemarle County, while also seeking justice for victims and the community in individual cases. But the rights and interest of society and the public in a fair, impartial and objective justice system must come first, before the interests of a particular case.
Prosecutors have a higher obligation to fairness and justice than any other interest. Continued prosecution of this case would be futile and would not promote the ends of justice. The integrity of the process is promoted and protected by today’s outcome and that must be my overriding concern as Albemarle County’s Commonwealth Attorney.
