Exonerated Black Man Dies Before Having A Chance To Confront Officers, In Court, Who Framed Him

A Black man from Kentucky, William “Ricky” Virgil, spent 28 years of his life in prison. He was finally freed after DNA evidence exonerated him in 2016.

Virgil filed a lawsuit against the city of Newport and the police for being wrongfully convicted.

However, Virgil died in January, so he won’t have a chance to face the officers who he says framed him.

In August 2021, the trial was supposed to start, but it was pushed back in order for the officers to appeal.

In April 1987, Ruth Welch, a nurse who worked with a jail ministry, was discovered deceased in her residence. She had been sexually assaulted, struck on the head, and stabbed 28 times.

Welch and Virgil had gotten to know each other while she worked with the ministry. He had been freed from prison, in another matter, a couple of months before she was killed. He noted that the two had a sexual relationship.

Virgil was taken into custody two weeks after the killing. He was later convicted solely based on circumstantial evidence.

Virgil had always said that he was not guilty. Thanks to the Innocence Project, his DNA was tested again in 2010.

During a 2016 trial, a prosecution witness took back his claims that Virgil told him that he murdered Welch.

All charges were then dismissed.

“We didn’t get to enjoy him as a totally free person. Am I grateful that he didn’t die in jail, yes. But was he totally free? No,” stated Jeri Colemon, Virgil’s cousin.