His counsel asserted that another man, identified by his street name, "Sirena," committed the crime. But Sirena could not be found or even identified. So when a defense witness claimed to have seen him on a flight to Honduras the day after Mr. Merry died, the jury understandably did not credit her.

In the years after the killing, however, it has emerged that police saw this man, since identified as Julio Osorto, in the vicinity of the crime and that he had -- as a police report records -- ketchup-like stains on his clothes. Honduran immigration records verify that he did arrive back in Honduras the very day the defense claimed. What's more, in a surreptitiously recorded videotape, he allegedly confessed to the killing. The Virginia courts ruled that the police report concerning Mr. Osorto was exculpatory and that the commonwealth had improperly withheld it from the defense. Yet, amazingly, they went on to determine that it would not have made a difference at trial. So Mr. Bustillo's conviction stands.