Court overturns murder charge against Manassas man

The Court of Appeals of Virginia has overturned capital murder and other charges against Anthony Dale Crawford, a Manassas man who was convicted Feb. 9, 2007, of killing his estranged wife in 2004.

The appeals court’s opinion, which was handed down on Tuesday, reversed all of Crawford’s convictions in Charlottesville Circuit Court except grand larceny.

The three-member panel also remanded for re-trial the use of a firearm in the commission of murder charge and a murder charge that is no greater than first-degree murder.

Crawford, now 49, was sentenced to two life sentences plus 67 years in May 2007 after being convicted of capital murder, abduction with intent to defile, rape, grand larceny and use a firearm in the commission of murder.

Authorities accused Crawford of killing 33-year-old Sarah Louise Crawford. Her body was found Nov. 22, 2004, in the Quality Inn on Emmet Street in Charlottesville.

Prosecutors built their case against the defendant by detailing years of verbal and physical abuse, including kicking, punching, degrading and raping her, according to a past protective order.

Sarah Crawford had left her abusive husband and started to rebound with a new apartment in Haymarket. She got a job as an office manager that she loved when she turned up missing one Friday.

Dale Crawford, who was unemployed, had recently purchased a Smith & Wesson revolver.

According to the prosecution’s timeline, Dale Crawford shot his wife in the Manassas area, then put her in the backseat of her own 2004 Hyundai and drove to Charlottesville, where he checked into a hotel and raped her.

Prosecutors argued that Sarah Crawford was either dead or dying at the time of the rape.

After the verdict, Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Jon R. Zug said that the jury’s decision to acquit Dale Crawford on the use of a firearm in commission of rape charge indicated that the jury believed the victim was dead when sexually violated.

According to the opinion, the appeals court said the trial court should not have allowed the commonwealth’s attorney to submit an affidavit into evidence that was created as part of Sarah Crawford’s request for a protective order against her husband. The opinion states that the local court violated the Confrontation Clause, part of the Sixth Amendment that gives people the right to confront their accusers, when it allowed that piece of evidence to be submitted.

Information about whether the charges will be retried locally was not immediately available Thursday.

As of Thursday, Crawford was listed as an inmate at Sussex I State Prison on the Virginia Department of Corrections’ Inmate Status Information System.