In 1998, Messiah Johnson was charged with taking part in an armed robbery in Norfolk. The victim identified him, even though the robber was wearing a mask.
"The main witness said that he was driving down the street at 35 to 40 miles an hour in the middle of the night, looked out his window and said he saw the person who robbed him," he recalls.
A judge in the case said police did a shoddy job of investigating, and the local prosecutor offered a deal. Johnson’s lawyer advised him to plead guilty and accept.
"He said that they would offer me three years in prison, and my first reaction was, ‘I’m not taking any plea deal. I’m innocent of the crime,'" Johnson explains.
Did that come back to haunt him once a jury sentenced to 132 years?
"No!" Johnson says. "I still stand firm in my decision. Unfortunately, I had to spend 20-plus years in prison, but I've gained a lot of wisdom, a sense of purpose. I've dedicated my life to criminal justice reform and helping others."
UVA’s Innocence Project spent more than a decade fighting for Johnson’s release, and in 2018 he got a conditional pardon from Governor Ralph Northam, but the crime remained on his record, making it difficult to find work or rent an apartment.
Then, the former head of the Innocence Project – Deirdre Enright – met a man convicted of many robberies in the area, and he confessed to the crime for which Johnson did time.
"Solving the crime, proving a wrongful conviction, and that still isn’t enough to get a person like Messiah Johnson a slam dunk case says terrible things about our criminal justice system in Virginia!"
Last year a court said Johnson was entitled to a full pardon, erasing his criminal record, and this year the General Assembly agreed to pay him $1.3 million – money he urgently needs. He had started a successful trucking company, but was recently involved in a serious crash, making it impossible to work.
That said, he will always regret the time lost with his two young daughters while he was in prison.
"It’s important for them to know that their father is innocent, but it doesn't change the fact that I was taken away from them by the system."
Johnson testified in Richmond in support of the bill to compensate him. It received unanimous support from the General Assembly, and several lawmakers offered a public apology.
