NORFOLK, Va. – A Norfolk father who spent nearly 30 years in prison for a murder he did not commit is speaking out about disgraced Norfolk detective Robert Glenn Ford’s involvement in his case.
“I went blank,” said Joseph Carter, referring to the moment he was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison for the 1989 murder of Juan Nunez-Reyes in Norfolk. “It definitely got dark [in prison].”
The University of Virginia Innocence Project took on Carter’s case in 2016. Their investigations revealed Ford encouraged "false witness testimony that wrongfully implicated Carter.”
“We’re still figuring out the extent of [Robert Glenn Ford’s] damage,” said Juliet Hatchet with the UVA Innocence Project. “That’s just really horrifying.”
Innocence Project attorneys said their review of the evidence in Carter’s case revealed witnesses initially did not name Carter as a suspect, but after interrogations with Ford, they changed their stories and identified Carter as the murderer. No evidence, including fingerprints and blood at the crime scene, connected Carter to the crime. By August 2021, Governor Ralph Northam granted Carter an absolute pardon. Governor Northam said Carter was “an unfortunate victim of Norfolk Detective Glenn Ford, who used his official capacity to extort witnesses in order to yield high solvability percentages.” Carter received compensation from the Virginia General Assembly this summer for the time he spent in prison.
“There's no money amount of money […] that could make up for 27 years,” said Carter. “It's sad that the taxpayers have to pay me for what [Ford] did.”
Related: Virginia's compensation for the wrongfully incarcerated falls behind national average
Ford, who worked as a homicide and drug detective for the Norfolk Police Department in the 80s and 90s, is infamous for his role in the wrongful conviction and incarceration of the so-called “Norfolk Four”. Ford used intimidating tactics to force four sailors to falsely confess to the 1997 rape and murder of Michelle Moore Bosko, even though no evidence at the crime scene connected the men to the woman’s rape and murder. Each of the sailors spent roughly a decade in prison. They were later exonerated.
While Ford was not criminally charged for his role in the Norfolk Four case, the Federal Bureau of Investigations arrested him for extortion, conspiracy and making false statements in unrelated cases during his time as a detective with the Norfolk Police Department. The Associated Press reports Ford took tens of thousands of dollars from drug dealers in exchange for getting them favorable treatment at sentencing. A federal judge sentenced him to 12 years in prison for those crimes in 2011. He served a decade of that sentence and is now a free man.
According to the UVA Innocence Project, Ford’s documented history of extortion and conspiracy also led to the conviction and incarcerations of Gilbert Merritt in 2001 and Kevin Knight in 2002. Each man served nearly 20 years in prison for murders they did not commit. Former Virginia Governor Ralph Northam pardoned the men.
Carter said if Ford is charged with any crimes connected to wrongdoing in previous cases, he hopes Ford will return to prison.
“He needs to feel what we felt,” said Carter. “For me, you need to feel 27 years. For another guy, you need to feel 20 something years. For another guy, it could be 10 years. So basically I'm saying life imprisonment.”
News 3 Investigates reached out to Ford’s attorney about Carter, Merrit and Knight, but he refused to comment.
