Messiah Johnson, a longtime client of the Innocence Project at the University of Virginia School of Law, is set to receive state compensation months after his criminal conviction was expunged.
Johnson, who was convicted in 1998 in connection with the armed robbery of a hair salon in Norfolk, Virginia, was released in 2018 after serving more than two decades in prison.
Virginia law requires the General Assembly to approve legislation before compensation can be awarded for wrongful convictions. The bill to compensate Johnson passed unanimously in both chambers during the recently concluded legislative session and was signed into law by Gov. Abigail Spanberger on April 8.
“Messiah had the opportunity to go and testify and actually receive apologies from several lawmakers, which I think, in this whole saga, is maybe one of the most satisfying parts for him — getting that recognition,” said Professor Juliet Hatchett ’15, a director of the Law School’s Innocence Project Clinic, who has worked on Johnson’s case since her time as a student at UVA Law.
Testifying before the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on General Government and Capital Outlay in February, Johnson described his harrowing journey.
“There’s no compensation, no amount of money, that can substitute for the abundance of loss in my life,” he said, citing the many years of lost family time he endured, especially with his two children.
Del. Rip Sullivan ’87, who sponsored the compensation bill, said Johnson’s “resilience in the face of unimaginable hardship — and unfairness — is inspiring. As he rebuilds his life, I hope the commonwealth’s recognition of the wrong done to him helps Mr. Johnson and his family heal and thrive.”
Sullivan also successfully shepherded two compensation bills through the General Assembly in 2025, including on behalf of Gilbert Merritt III, another UVA Law Innocence Project client, who spent two decades in jail for a murder he did not commit.
“He’s a fantastic partner. He’s just been an amazing advocate,” Hatchett said of Sullivan.
The road to freedom, exoneration and now financial compensation has been long for Johnson, whose case UVA Law students have worked on for well over 10 years.
“What stuck out initially was the lack of evidence against him, and the circumstances under which he was identified as a suspect were highly problematic and raised a number of red flags,” Hatchett said, explaining that his conviction was based on faulty eyewitness identifications.
After years of legal work by UVA Law’s Innocence Project, Johnson left prison on a conditional pardon in April 2018.
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