A Virginia man has walked free from prison after serving a 25-year sentence—more than a decade of which was spent on death row—following the vacating of his murder conviction.
Justin Michael Wolfe, now 45, was released on Monday, bringing an end to a long legal battle that once brought him within days of execution for the March 2001 killing of Daniel Petrole in Bristow, Virginia. Judge Carl Weimer threw out the conviction after the sole witness connecting Wolfe to the crime recanted his statements. Wolfe subsequently accepted a plea agreement involving robbery and marijuana charges, receiving a sentence equivalent to time served.
