Virginia Man Freed After 25 Years as Murder Conviction Is Vacated

A Virginia man whose murder conviction was vacated after the only witness against him recanted walked out of prison on Monday, ending a 25-year legal ordeal that had once placed him on death row.

Justin Michael Wolfe, 45, was released after Judge Carl Weimer set aside his conviction in the 2001 shooting death of Daniel Petrole in Bristow, Virginia. Wolfe also entered a plea agreement on marijuana and robbery charges, receiving a sentence of time served.

His first hours of freedom were a blur of ordinary life: pizza, errands with his mother, and plans for a family dinner.

"The thing I relish most is getting to know my nieces and nephews," Wolfe said Tuesday. "I did 25 years for a marijuana case, something that you can go buy at the store now. I feel like I handled it as well as I could."

The case began in the early 2000s and drew widespread attention, exposing a drug ring involving Wolfe and several other teenagers in northern Virginia. Authorities at the time estimated the group may have sold as much as $10 million worth of marijuana and the synthetic drug ecstasy, spending the proceeds on vacations to Hawaii and Atlantic City while maintaining a veneer of suburban normalcy.

Prosecutors alleged that Wolfe hired another young marijuana dealer, Owen Barber, to shoot Petrole on March 15, 2001. Petrole was Wolfe's high school friend and drug supplier, and prosecutors said Wolfe owed him more than $60,000.

After the shooting, Barber told a friend what he had done, and the friend notified police, according to court records. Barber pleaded guilty as part of a deal to avoid the death penalty and was sentenced to 60 years for the murder.

Wolfe was indicted on charges including capital murder. He testified in his own defense and denied any involvement in Petrole's death, but was convicted in 2002 and sentenced to death.

Barber was the only person tying Wolfe to the murder-for-hire scheme. He later recanted his trial testimony, saying Wolfe was not involved and that law enforcement officers had repeatedly threatened him with the death penalty unless he cooperated with Wolfe's prosecution.

Legal advocacy groups, including the U.S. Campaign to End the Death Penalty and the Innocence Project at the University of Virginia School of Law, took up Wolfe's cause. Progress was incremental, with each step taking years.

After Wolfe appealed, a federal judge found that prosecutors had engaged in misconduct and vacated his death sentence, ordering a new trial. But Barber refused to testify on Wolfe's behalf, fearing it would violate his own plea deal and potentially expose him to a new death penalty trial.

Further legal wrangling followed, and in 2016 Wolfe was resentenced to up to 41 years in prison as part of a plea deal to avoid another death sentence. The agreement also required him to apologize to Petrole's family.

"I understand all the pain and suffering I caused," Wolfe said at his 2016 sentencing, looking directly at Petrole's family. "I know an apology is not enough, but I'm sorry."

Virginia abolished the death penalty in 2021. Barber, no longer at risk of capital punishment, signed a new sworn statement in 2023 vowing that Wolfe had nothing to do with Petrole's death. Two other people also provided sworn statements that Barber had told each of them Wolfe was not involved.

Last year, a panel of federal appellate judges agreed that Wolfe had been the victim of prosecutorial misconduct.

"Twenty-four years ago, the Commonwealth decided that appellant was a guilty man," U.S. Circuit Judge Stephanie Thacker wrote for the unanimous three-judge panel. "From that moment, the Commonwealth has done everything in its power to ensure Appellant dies in prison, eschewing the Constitution, ethical strictures, and Appellant's own repeated and consistent assertions of actual innocence."

Wolfe's release came as part of a new plea deal in which he pleaded guilty to selling marijuana and entered an Alford plea to solicitation of robbery. An Alford plea allows a defendant to plead guilty while maintaining innocence.

"The system is broken," his mother, Steinberg, said. "What they did to him was cruel and unusual punishment, and what they did to the Petroles was just prolong their pain."

In a statement released Monday, Prince William County Commonwealth's Attorney Amy Ashworth called the resolution a "just and appropriate outcome" to a case mishandled by a previous administration.

"We recognize that people will have strong and differing views about this resolution," Ashworth said, noting some may see it as establishing Wolfe's guilt and others his innocence.

Petrole's family also issued a statement, included in the commonwealth attorney's release. They asked for privacy and said they hope to "finally begin to close this chapter and remember Danny for life rather than for the circumstances of his death."

Steinberg said she is looking forward to healing as a family.

Wolfe faces an adjustment period. Simple things like choosing when to sleep and showering without a correctional officer escort are novel after a quarter-century behind bars. He hopes to eventually become an advocate for criminal justice reform.

"We just went to Costco, and that was sensory overload," Wolfe said with a chuckle. "I'm going to get the hang of it. I'll be alright."