A federal judge has ruled that a man whose Prince William County murder-for-hire conviction was overturned should be released and not retried.

Justin Michael Wolfe had been convicted of capital murder in the 2001 slaying of his marijuana supplier and had been sentenced to death.

But in July 2011, a federal judge in Norfolk vacated the conviction and death sentence, ruling that Wolfe was denied his due-process rights when prosecutors withheld information from his lawyers and that prosecutors had used false testimony from a key witness.

In Wednesday's ruling, Judge Raymond Jackson wrote that Wolfe needed to be released because the ruling last year mandated that Wolfe be provided a new trial within 120 days or be set free.

Jackson also barred the government from retrying Wolfe. After Wolfe's conviction was overturned, the original prosecutors in the case had intimidated the key witness in the case who had implicated Wolfe in his original trial but later recanted. Because of the prosecutors' actions, that witness invoked his right to self-incrimination and would not testify in Wolfe's defense in a future trial.

Sign Up for the Politics Today newsletter!

Please enter your email address below to begin receiving the Politics Today newsletter.

You must enter a valid email address in the field above!

Thank you for signing up for the Politics Today newsletter! You should receive your first newsletter very soon.

We're sorry, there was an error processing your newsletter signup. Please click here to visit our Newsletter Signup Center to register for this newsletter.

A special prosecutor in the case told the Washington Post that the state plans to appeal Wednesday's ruling.

njagoda@washingtonexaminer.com