Confessions, The 1x53, or 1x83

In August 2009, Virginia governor Tom Kaine granted conditional pardons to four Navy men who had served 12 years in prison for a Norfolk rape and murder. The evidence and DNA all pointed to a single assailant, Omar Ballard, who didn’t know these sailors. He confessed two years after the crime in a letter from prison where he was doing his time for a separate rape. But by then these four sailors had already confessed, and with that queen of proofs in hand, the prosecution’s conspiracy theory included all of the men in the crime. What happened in the interrogation room to convince innocent men to confess to this heinous crime? And more importantly, what happened in the justice system to allow the arrest and attempted prosecution of seven different men with no evidence to tie them to the crime scene? Through interviews with many closest to this case, FRONTLINE profiles a sordid episode in Virginia justice.

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