Kaine conditionally pardons 3 sailors

RICHMOND, Va., Aug. 7 (UPI) -- Three of four U.S. sailors jailed for a 1997 rape and murder were conditionally pardoned by Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine for the crimes to which they confessed.

Danial Williams, 37; Derek Tice, 39; and Joseph Dick, 33, were expected to be released from prison Friday, culminating a four-year clemency campaign based on the sailors' claims they were coerced into falsely admitting their involvement, The Washington Post reported.

Another sailor in the so-called "Norfolk 4," Eric Wilson, 33, has served more than eight years in prison and Kaine did not pardon him.

Kaine said he was reducing the three sailors' sentences to time served, not declaring they were innocent. Kaine said he decided the men "have not conclusively established their innocence and therefore that an absolute pardon is not appropriate," the Post reported.

When the case against the sailors was pending in 1999, another man confessed to the killing and his DNA matched genetic evidence at the scene. The man, saying he acted alone, eventually pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison. Norfolk police and prosecutors, however, pushed their case against the four sailors, obtaining guilty pleas or convictions for each of them, the Post said.

The sailors were convicted in the slaying of Michelle Moore-Bosko, 18, of Pittsburgh, who moved to Norfolk and married her boyfriend, William Bosko. The Post reported her parents opposed clemency and said they believe the sailors are guilty.