Governor Bob McDonnell signed legislation that will award $1 million to Thomas Haynesworth for stealing 27 years of his life. Haynesworth was incarcerated for that length of time after being falsely accused and convicted of 5 rapes in the Richmond area. He was released last year and recently exonerated by a Virginia Court of Appeals of all crimes. Haynesworth was 18 when he was convicted. DNA testing proved his innocence.
The DNA testing leads to a lot of “What If” questions. What if there were no DNA samples saved? Haynesworth would not have been released. How many other men are wrongfully incarcerated for rape? How many of them are black? Not all convicts are guaranteed DNA testing for an appeal.
How can a million dollars begin to compensate someone for the loss of nearly 3 decades of their life? In fact, that amounts to about $37,000 a year. Haynesworth has been free for a year now. I hope his life had gone well. How could he go through 3 decades of prison and not just become a nasty bitter person? I am afraid I would be.
Then there is the biggest WHAT IF of all. What if Thomas Haynesworth were not black? Would he have been accused and convicted of 5 rapes he did not commit? We will never know, but its something to think about.
Tom Robinson had to die. Tom Haynesworth became a millionaire. I doubt he would think it was worth it.
