RICHMOND, Va. -- A Richmond man, Marvin Leon Grimm, Jr. was exonerated Tuesday after a Virginia court found that he was not responsible for the murder and sexual assault of a three-year-old boy in 1975.
In November 1975 the victim, who was reported missing just four days earlier, was found dead on the banks of the James River in Richmond.
According to court documents, Grimm, who was a 20-year-old Navy vet, lived in an apartment across from the toddler and his family.
In December 1975, Grimm confessed to the murder, and in March 1976 he pleaded guilty to murder, sodomy by force, and abduction with the intent to defile.
Court documents also say evidence, analyzed in March 1976 by forensic scientist Mary Jane Burton, implicated Grimm in the murder. A forensic report found that hairs discovered in Grimm's car matched the victim's.
Grimm was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison, plus 10 years. He served 44 years in prison and was released in 2019.
Nearly 50 years after the guilty plea, in May 2023, Grimm filed a writ of actual innocence, claiming that the evidence brought against him and his confession were all coerced.
Court documents from the June exoneration state that the "physical evidence linking [the victim] and Grimm in 1976 rested largely on the eight hairs recovered from Grimm’s car and home, which purportedly belonged to [the victim.] The new DNA evidence, however, definitively shows that [the victim] is not the source of those hairs."
On Tuesday, Attorney General Jason Miyares released a statement praising the exoneration, the second successful of his administration.
"The case of Marvin Grimm is a textbook example of why Virginia provides actual innocence relief. For the American experiment in self-government to continue to thrive, the government must be willing to admit when it makes mistakes. It is an honor to stand up for Mr. Grimm’s innocence in this case."
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