More charges filed in Harrison County against Buffey
More charges filed in Harrison County against Buffey
More charges filed in Harrison County against Buffey
"Not only did Harrison County prosecutors decide not to drop the charges against a man who served nearly 15 years for a sexual assault another man was later convicted of, but, on Friday, they filed more charges against him. A Harrison County grand jury on Friday indicted Joseph A. Buffey, 33, on charges that prosecutors had agreed not to pursue as part of Buffey’s plea deal in 2002. Earlier this year, though, Buffey withdrew from that deal, after the state Supreme Court ruled that prosecutors had violated his due-process rights by withholding evidence from him. In addition to charges stemming from the assault and robbery of an 83-year-old Clarksburg woman, on which Buffey is set to stand trial in October, he was indicted Friday on charges of third-degree sexual assault, aiding and abetting breaking and entering and conspiracy to commit breaking and entering, according to a Harrison circuit clerk. “The State apparently wasn’t satisfied taking 14 years of Joe Buffey’s life for crimes he did not commit while withholding, in violation of his Constitutional Rights, DNA results that exonerated him,” one of Buffey’s lawyers, Allan Karlin, of Morgantown, said in a statement after finding out about the charges in the indictment. “Now prosecutors are piling on new charges, from events allegedly occurring over 15 years ago. This appears to be nothing more than retaliation against Joe Buffey for successfully establishing that his rights were violated, and punishment for the fact that he continues to maintain his innocence of the original charges. Sadly, the State appears to have forgotten that it is supposed to stand for justice.” In February, the state Supreme Court found that Harrison County prosecutors violated Buffey’s due-process rights by not disclosing the results of a DNA test before Buffey pleaded guilty. Justices unanimously sent Buffey’s case back before a Harrison County circuit judge, where he was allowed to withdraw from the plea. It was up to prosecutors whether to take the case to trial or drop the charges. Buffey’s guilty plea in 2002, to the charges he will be tried on in October, came after a nine-hour interrogation and after his court-appointed lawyer advised him that his sentence would not be any greater than the sentence he would receive for separate non-violent robbery charges. Buffey soon asked to recant his plea and requested the results of the DNA test. The test had been completed — and indicated Buffey was not the assailant — prior to his plea being finalized, but neither he nor his lawyers had ever seen the results, despite asking for them."
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