Justin Wolfe has been in prison for 11 years, nine of them on death row. Last year, a judge threw out his conviction for murder -- but Wolfe will remain in jail until his new trial, NBC4's Derrick Ward reports.
During Friday morning's hearing in Prince William County, the judge denied a motion to release him on bond before his new trial begins Oct. 15.
Wolfe, who admits to involvement in a drug ring in Fairfax, was convicted in 2002 of hiring a man to kill Daniel Petrole Jr, his drug supplier.
An appeals judge vacated the conviction last year after the gunman, Owen Barber, recanted Wolfe's involvement. Barber testified that while bringing him back from California, a police officer told him they'd go easier on him if he implicated Wolf.
Barber avoided capital punishment by accepting a plea bargain and testifying that Wolfe had hired him to kill Petrole. This information was withheld during Wolfe's trial, one reason the conviction for conspiracy murder was later overturned.
Prosecutors have not said what charges they plan to bring against Wolfe in his new trial, but they argued that the drug charges from his first trial were such that bond should be denied. They said Wolfe is a flight risk, noting that he went to Florida before turning himself in.
Wolfe's attorney argued that he's been through the "most intense 'scared straight' progam there is." They'd wanted bond and electronic monitoring while both sides prepared for the new trial. Wolfe's family would have set him up with an online job so Wolfe could work from home, his mother told Ward.
In denying Wolfe's bond Friday, the judge said she was bound by the law and the severity of the crime -- referring to Wolf's drug conviction, not the murder.
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Wolfe's mother points out that he's already served more time than anyone else involved in the case. He entered prison at the age of 19 and was sent to death row at 20.
Now 31, he's seen others in his cellblock go off to their executions. He's had two stays of execution.
