Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin says he will withhold state funds from Richmond unless the city pays $5.8 million to a wrongfully convicted man who spent nearly 50 years in prison, as compensation for an abusive interrogation and a prosecution that hid critical evidence.
Under a new state law, Richmond owes Marvin Grimm $5.8 million, matching a sum the state paid for the time he served after his conviction for a crime he did not commit: the murder and sexual assault of 3-year-old Christopher Harper in 1975.
“The background that led to Mr. Grimm’s wrongful conviction is horrific,” Youngkin wrote in a letter to Richmond Mayor Danny Avula.
“In order to secure a conviction, employees of the city did illegal and despicable things to a human being and fellow citizen of Richmond,” he added.
Those included a lengthy interrogation of a then-20-year-old who was suffering lasting anxiety and depression after witnessing the death of his shipmates while in the Navy. After a 10-hour interrogation and 24 hours without sleep, responding to prompts from police, Grimm gave a statement that matched police theories about the crime but that included none of the critical, never-publicized information investigators usually rely on to make sure individuals aren’t admitting to crimes they did not commit.
Prosecutors convinced Grimm to plead guilty, saying he could only avoid the death penalty if he did — even though the U.S. Supreme Court had voided state death penalty laws four years earlier, in 1972, only allowing executions to resume in 1977.
But prosecutors and police withheld evidence, including blood evidence that would have shown Grimm could not have committed the crime. The Supreme Court ruled in 1962 that prosecutors must provide defendants’ lawyers with any evidence that could show defendants are not guilty.
Grimm was sentenced to life plus 10 years for the crime and spent the first five years of his sentence in solitary confinement.
But in 2002, 2012 and 2013, DNA evidence and microscopic examination of a towel and oral swabs that had been used as evidence convicting Grimm found no trace of a sexual assault. A toxicology analysis showed he could not have committed the crime during the time in which it happened.
Last year, the Court of Appeals exonerated Grimm, and this year the General Assembly approved $5.8 million in compensation and enacted a law saying that when the state compensates a wrongfully convicted person, a locality must match any payment if it or its employees intentionally withheld evidence showing that person was innocent.
The law also says that if a locality won’t pay, a governor can withhold state funds until the locality meets its obligation.
In his letter, Youngkin said that if the city does not pay Grimm the $5.8 million it owes by Aug. 15, he will direct the state comptroller to withhold statement payments until the city pays Grimm.
Youngkin said the city has not responded to Grimm’s attorneys and is ignoring its responsibility.
A city spokesman said: “The City is reviewing the contents of the Governor’s letter and does not have comment at this time.”
Youngkin said: “Mr. Grimm deserves better treatment from the city of Richmond.”
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