A defendant previously denied federal relief from his 1985 murder conviction in Virginia may file another federal habeas corpus petition on the basis of new evidence recently released by law enforcement officials, the Fourth Circuit said Wednesday.
Emerson Stevens, who was paroled in 2017 but continues to fight his conviction, convinced the federal appeals court the lost box of evidence may exonerate him, the opinion by Judge Julius N. Richardson said.
Stevens was convicted for murdering a 24-year-old mother of two and throwing her body in the Rappahannock River with a cinder block attached to it. His original state appeals ...