Justin Wolfe
Family photo

A federal appeals court has ruled that Justin Wolfe can again stand trial on capital murder charges for the 2001 drug-related murder of a Bristow man.

In December, U.S. District Judge Raymond Jackson issued an order authorizing Wolfe’s release from prison, and barring prosecutors from retrying him on charges stemming from the death of Daniel Petrole, Jr., who was shot outside his townhouse in Bristow.

The Virginia Attorney General’s office appealed the ruling and the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond heard oral arguments in the case in January.

In an opinion released Wednesday, the high court ruled 2-1 that Jackson’s order should be overturned and that Wolfe’s retrial can continue.

In the majority opinions, the judges wrote that Jackson was correct to say that Wolfe should “be released from the custody imposed as the result of his 2002 convictions” but that he was wrong to say that Wolfe cannot be retried.

“The district court was correct to order Wolfe’s ‘release’ on the original charges, though such action did not actually free him from custody,” the judges wrote in the majority opinion.

Last year, Wolfe was rearrested and directly indicted on new charges stemming from Petrole’s death and remains in custody at the Prince William-Manassas regional jail on those charges.

The appeals court disagreed with Jackson’s assertion that Wolfe should not be retried. Jackson wrote that prosecutors’ recent actions -- including a September interview with Owen Barber, the key witness in Wolfe’s first trial, who later recanted his testimony -- made it impossible for Wolfe to have a fair trial now.

The appeals court ruled that it is up to the state court to ensure the retrial is fair.

“Put simply, the task of conducting Wolfe’s retrial is for the state trial court, and it is not for us to express a view on how that court should manage its affairs,” the judges wrote in their opinion. “We are confident that the retrial will be properly handled, and, if convictions result, that the appellate courts will perform their duties.”

In her dissenting opinion, Judge Stephanie Thacker said that Wolfe’s retrial should be barred.

“The Commonwealth’s misconduct has continued far too long, and the cumulative misconduct permeating this case has tainted it in such a way that it is doubtful Wolfe will receive a fair and just trial. Enough is enough,” she wrote.

A jury in Prince William Circuit Court in 2002 convicted Wolfe of capital murder and other charges and sentenced him to death. Wolfe appealed and in 2011, Judge Jackson ruled in his favor, citing misconduct by prosecutors in Prince William County. Jackson vacated the convictions and ordered that Wolfe be retried or released within 120 days.

In part, Jackson said prosecutors withheld evidence about the testimony of their key witness, Barber. Barber admitted to shooting Petrole, and testified that Wolfe hired him to do the shooting.

Barber later recanted his testimony and said Wolfe had nothing to do with the murder.

A special prosecutor, Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Raymond Morrogh, was appointed in the case and a retrial was set to begin in January. The trial was continued pending the outcome of the appeals court case.