# Justin Michael Wolfe

> Sentenced to death for the 2001 murder-for-hire of his marijuana supplier on the testimony of the man who fired the shots, Wolfe spent about 25 years in custody. Federal courts found that prosecutors suppressed evidence and later threatened that witness, and in 2026 his murder conviction was vacated.

- Case: Wolfe v. Commonwealth · Prince William County, Virginia · 2001
- Status: Murder conviction vacated; pleaded to lesser charges. His murder conviction was vacated on Sept. 28, 2026. He pleaded guilty to a marijuana distribution charge and entered an Alford plea to solicitation of robbery; an Alford plea lets a defendant accept a conviction while maintaining his innocence. He was sentenced to the time he had already served and is free.
- Last updated: 2026-10-12
- Editorial review: approved 2026-10-12
- Web page: https://criminalbackstories.com/cases/justin-wolfe/
- All defendants are presumed innocent until found guilty by a court of law. Charges and allegations described on this site are not proof of guilt.

## Why this case is in the news

On Sept. 28, 2026, Prince William County Circuit Judge Carl Weimer vacated Wolfe's murder conviction, and Wolfe, 45, was released from the county jail in Manassas after about 25 years in custody, more than a decade of it on death row.[6] Under an agreement with Commonwealth's Attorney Amy Ashworth, he pleaded guilty to a marijuana charge and entered an Alford plea to solicitation of robbery, and was sentenced to time served.[6][9] The resolution followed a 2025 federal appeals ruling that the Commonwealth's conduct in his case was "a textbook example" of conduct that renders a plea involuntary.[3]

## Case at a glance

- Original charges: Capital murder for hire, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, conspiracy to distribute marijuana[3]
- Victim: Daniel Robert Petrole Jr., 21, shot March 15, 2001, in Bristow, Virginia[3][1]
- Convicted: Jan. 22, 2002, jury trial, Prince William County[3]
- Sentenced: 2002, death, plus 30 years (marijuana) and 3 years (firearm)[3][10]
- Direct appeal: Supreme Court of Virginia, Feb. 28, 2003, affirmed[1]
- First conviction vacated: 2011, U.S. District Court (E.D. Va.), for suppressed evidence; affirmed 2012[3]
- 2016 plea: Murder, firearm and marijuana conspiracy; 41 years to serve[3][4]
- Co-defendant: Owen Barber, the shooter; pleaded guilty to non-capital murder, sentenced to 60 years with 22 suspended[3][4]
- Key ruling: *Wolfe v. Dotson*, No. 24-6840 (4th Cir. July 7, 2025); Supreme Court review denied April 20, 2026[3][5]
- Time in custody: About 25 years[6]
- Current status: Murder conviction vacated Sept. 28, 2026; pleaded to marijuana and solicitation-of-robbery charges; released[6][9]

## The backstory

### The drug business

By the Supreme Court of Virginia's account, Wolfe was a major marijuana dealer in Northern Virginia, selling high-grade marijuana for $4,200 to $5,000 a pound.[1] Beginning in November 2000, Daniel Petrole Jr. supplied him on credit, a practice called "fronting," and kept "owe sheets" of what his customers owed.[1] An owe sheet found on Petrole's body showed Wolfe owed him more than $60,000; at trial, Wolfe admitted the debt was more than $80,000.[1] Authorities estimated that the group of young dealers exposed by the case sold up to $10 million in marijuana and ecstasy.[6]

### The prosecution's theory

Prosecutors charged that Wolfe hired Owen Barber, a high school friend who also dealt marijuana, to kill Petrole.[3] Barber testified that in late February or early March 2001, Wolfe asked whether he wanted to "get his chronic man," and told him not merely to rob Petrole but to shoot him because "he knows too many people."[1] Barber testified that the two of them spent the following days trying to find Petrole, at his Washington, D.C., apartment building and elsewhere.[1] He testified that Wolfe promised him $10,000, forgiveness of a $3,000 drug debt and several pounds of marijuana.[1]

### The killing

According to Barber's testimony, on March 15, 2001, Wolfe told him that Petrole would be delivering marijuana that night to the Centreville apartment of Wolfe's girlfriend, and Barber followed Petrole when he left.[1] Driving a borrowed car, Barber followed him to the neighborhood where Petrole had recently bought a townhouse, got out, and fired through the passenger-side window from five or six feet away.[1] Barber testified he fired ten times; the autopsy found nine gunshot wounds.[1] Petrole was found in the driver's seat without a pulse.[1] He and Barber were both 21.[3]

Barber testified that he met Wolfe at a nightclub afterward and told him "it was done," and that Wolfe hugged him and made a toast.[1] Barber fled to California. A friend whose car he had used reported him to police, and Barber was arrested in San Diego, returned to Virginia and confessed.[1][3] Wolfe left for Florida.[1]

### The trial

A grand jury indicted Wolfe on May 7, 2001.[3] Barber pleaded guilty to non-capital murder and testified against him.[3] The Fourth Circuit later described Barber as the prosecution's "key witness" and the only witness who gave direct evidence that the killing was "for hire."[3] Other witnesses testified about Wolfe's talk of robberies and about the nightclub toast.[1]

Wolfe testified in his own defense. He admitted dealing marijuana for four or five years and said he was guilty of the drug conspiracy charge, but he denied any role in the killing.[1][3] On Jan. 22, 2002, the jury convicted him on all charges.[3]

### Why the jury chose death

The jury found two aggravating circumstances: a probability that he "would commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing serious threat to society," and that his conduct was "outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible or inhuman" in that it involved an aggravated battery to the victim.[1] At sentencing, his stepfather testified that Wolfe always took care of his younger siblings and that he had never seen him angry or violent, and a former prison warden testified that Wolfe showed no "pattern of violence."[10] Judge Herman Whisenant imposed death, plus 30 years for distributing marijuana and three years for the firearm charge.[10] Petrole's father said afterward that "every choice has a consequence," and also that he had "compassion for Justin Wolfe."[10]

On appeal, the Supreme Court of Virginia upheld the sentence on the future-dangerousness finding alone, citing his drug dealing, his earlier robbery plans, the repeated attempts to find Petrole and the toast, and did not decide the vileness finding.[1] It held that the sentence was not excessive or disproportionate compared with other murder-for-hire cases.[1]

### Barber recants

In a December 2005 affidavit, Barber said that "Justin had nothing to do with the killing" and that he had lied to implicate him.[2] In April 2006 he wrote an unsworn letter saying his trial testimony had been true.[2] In 2009 the Fourth Circuit ruled that the district court had to consider Wolfe's claim of actual innocence and his claims that evidence had been withheld.[2] Barber testified at a federal evidentiary hearing on Nov. 2, 2010, and the district court found that he "made a credible recantation of his trial testimony."[4]

### The suppressed evidence

In 2011, the district court vacated Wolfe's conviction and death sentence and ordered Virginia to retry him within 120 days or release him.[3] In 2012 the Fourth Circuit affirmed on one ground: the Commonwealth had withheld a police report showing that a detective told Barber he could avoid the death penalty by implicating Wolfe, before Barber had accused him.[3] The report was not disclosed until the 2010 federal proceedings.[3] The Fourth Circuit found the suppression "entirely intentional," and it quoted the district court's description of the Commonwealth's conduct as "abhorrent to the judicial process."[3]

As the Fourth Circuit summarized it in 2025, other withheld material included evidence of possible motives for Barber to kill Petrole, a witness's report that Barber said he acted alone, a deal with another prosecution witness, and statements about a second car at the scene.[3]

### Threats before the retrial

On Sept. 11, 2012, days after the Fourth Circuit's mandate, the detective and two Prince William County prosecutors interviewed Barber in prison without his lawyer.[3] The Fourth Circuit found that they repeated the message that he had to keep to his trial testimony "or you are getting the chair," and that one prosecutor told him, "we would bring the charge against you, capital murder."[3] Both prosecutors later recused themselves, and a special prosecutor obtained a new indictment adding six charges.[3] Barber invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to testify.[3] The district court then barred a retrial, but in 2013 the Fourth Circuit vacated that order, finding the circumstances not "sufficiently extraordinary."[3]

### The 2016 plea

Prosecutors sought the death penalty again.[11] On March 29, 2016, Wolfe pleaded guilty to murder, use of a firearm in a felony and conspiracy to distribute marijuana.[3] He received 60 years for murder with 27 suspended, three years on the firearm charge, and 20 years on the marijuana charge with 15 suspended, for 41 years to serve.[4] Before the plea, at his attorney's request, he wrote a letter saying he had "agreed that it would be okay" for Barber to rob Petrole in exchange for forgiving Barber's debt, and that "I am responsible for Danny's death even though I didn't pull the trigger."[4] Friends and relatives have said he wrote the letter so that he could one day be released.[11] The plea deal required him to apologize to Petrole's family, and he did.[6]

Wolfe later argued that the plea was involuntary, the product of vindictive prosecution and misconduct; Virginia courts held that he had forfeited those claims.[3]

### The 2025 ruling

On April 12, 2023, Barber signed a declaration saying Wolfe "had nothing to do with the killing," that there was no agreement between them to kill Petrole, and that after the 2012 interview he was too afraid to testify.[3] Two other people gave sworn statements that Barber had told them the same thing.[6] The district court dismissed Wolfe's new federal petition in 2024.[4]

On July 7, 2025, a unanimous Fourth Circuit panel vacated that dismissal. Judge Stephanie Thacker wrote: "Twenty-four years ago, the Commonwealth decided that Appellant was a guilty man."[3] The court held that Barber's declaration was new and reliable evidence and that Wolfe had "alleged a meritorious Schlup claim for actual innocence," and it remanded his claims for decision.[3] It called the 2012 prison interview "egregious conduct" and the Commonwealth's conduct "a textbook example" of conduct that renders a plea involuntary.[3] The U.S. Supreme Court denied Virginia's petition for review on April 20, 2026.[5]

### Vacated

According to Wolfe's lawyers, the district court on remand set aside the 2016 plea as involuntary because of prosecutorial misconduct.[9] WJLA reported that prosecutors reached an agreement after an attorney with the Virginia Attorney General's Office raised concerns that the federal courts could order a retrial or bar further prosecution.[7] On Sept. 28, 2026, Judge Carl Weimer vacated the murder conviction.[6] Wolfe pleaded guilty to a marijuana charge and entered an Alford plea to solicitation of robbery, and was sentenced to the time he had already served.[6][9]

Barber's 60-year sentence for Petrole's murder included 22 suspended years.[4]

## Personal backstory

### Early life

Wolfe graduated from Chantilly High School.[10][11] At his sentencing his stepfather testified that Wolfe looked after his younger siblings, and a step-grandfather gave similar testimony.[10] *No other account of his childhood appears in the sources reviewed.*

### Mental health

*No mental-health testimony or findings appear in the sources reviewed.*

### Before the arrest

At his trial Wolfe testified that he had been a drug dealer for four or five years, had distributed more than 100 pounds of marijuana, and spent $2,000 to $3,000 on weekends on what he called the "high life."[1] His record before the killing included a 1997 juvenile adjudication for marijuana possession, probation violations, and a Florida conviction for possessing a false identification card.[1] He was 21 and living in Centreville when he was sentenced to death.[10]

### Twenty-five years in custody

Wolfe spent about 25 years in custody, more than a decade of it on death row.[6] At his 2002 sentencing he said he felt terrible about what happened to Petrole and thanked his family for their support.[10] After the 2025 ruling, his mother said the family was "profoundly grateful" and "cautiously optimistic."[11]

His mother and an uncle met him when he was released.[8] His mother said, "The system is broken."[6] Wolfe said the thing he relished most was getting to know his nieces and nephews, called a trip to Costco "sensory overload," and said he hopes to become an advocate for criminal justice reform.[6]

## Where the parties stand

- Prosecution: Commonwealth's Attorney Amy Ashworth, who did not try the original case, called the resolution a "just and appropriate outcome" and acknowledged that people hold strongly differing views on Wolfe's guilt or innocence.[6] Her office called the case's handling "deeply troubling," saying significant information was not disclosed at the first trial and that witness intimidation allegations arose during the retrial proceedings.[7][8]
- Defense: Wolfe has maintained that he is innocent of the killing.[8] "I did 25 years for a marijuana case," he said after his release.[6] His lawyer Scott Abeles said that "after 25 years of injustice, Justin has obtained a measure of justice that long eluded him."[9]
- Victim's family: The Petrole family said they understood the reasoning behind the agreement, thanked the current prosecutors for listening, and were "ready to let the legal process reach its conclusion."[7][8] They asked for privacy and said they hoped to remember Danny "for life rather than for the circumstances of his death."[6]

## Timeline

- March 15, 2001: Owen Barber shoots and kills Daniel Petrole in Bristow, Virginia.[3]
- May 7, 2001: A grand jury indicts Wolfe.[3]
- Jan. 22, 2002: A jury convicts Wolfe on all charges; he is later sentenced to death.[3][10]
- Feb. 28, 2003: The Supreme Court of Virginia affirms the conviction and death sentence.[1]
- Dec. 14, 2005: Barber signs an affidavit saying Wolfe "had nothing to do with the killing."[2]
- May 11, 2009: The Fourth Circuit orders the district court to consider Wolfe's innocence claim.[2]
- Nov. 2, 2010: Barber testifies at a federal evidentiary hearing; the court later finds his recantation credible.[4]
- 2011: A federal judge vacates the conviction and death sentence for suppression of evidence.[3]
- Sept. 11, 2012: After the Fourth Circuit affirms, a detective and two prosecutors interview Barber in prison without his lawyer.[3]
- March 29, 2016: Facing retrial, Wolfe pleads guilty to murder and two other charges; he is sentenced to 41 years.[3]
- April 12, 2023: Barber signs a declaration that Wolfe "had nothing to do with the killing."[3]
- July 7, 2025: The Fourth Circuit holds that Wolfe has a meritorious claim of actual innocence.[3]
- April 20, 2026: The U.S. Supreme Court denies Virginia's petition for review.[5]
- Sept. 28, 2026: The murder conviction is vacated; Wolfe pleads to lesser charges and is released.[6][9]

## What happens next

No further court proceedings were reported in the sources reviewed. Wolfe has said he hopes to become an advocate for criminal justice reform.[6]

## Sources

1. [Wolfe v. Commonwealth, Record Nos. 021872 and 022194](https://ebrief.courts.state.va.us/opinions/opnscvwp/1021872.pdf). Supreme Court of Virginia, Feb. 28, 2003. (court or official record)
2. [Wolfe v. Johnson, No. 08-8](https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-4th-circuit/1365277.html). U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, May 11, 2009. (court or official record)
3. [Wolfe v. Dotson, No. 24-6840](https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-4th-circuit/117456183.html). U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, July 7, 2025. (court or official record)
4. [Petition Appendix, Dotson v. Wolfe, No. 25-664 (includes E.D. Va. memorandum opinion of March 28, 2024)](https://www.scotusblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/25-664_Petition_Appendix_CA4.pdf). Filed by the Commonwealth of Virginia in the U.S. Supreme Court, Dec. 2025. (court or official record)
5. [Docket No. 25-664, Dotson v. Wolfe](https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/docketfiles/html/public/25-664.html). Supreme Court of the United States. (court or official record)
6. [Judge vacates Virginia man's murder conviction; he walks free after 25 years](https://abcnews.com/US/wireStory/judge-vacates-virginia-mans-murder-conviction-walks-free-136875684). Associated Press (via ABC News), Sept. 29, 2026. (news report)
7. [Man previously convicted in Prince William County murder released after 25 years](https://wjla.com/news/local/man-previously-convicted-in-prince-william-county-murder-released-after-25-years-justin-wolfe-owen-barber-danny-petrole). WJLA 7News, Sept. 28, 2026. (news report)
8. [Justin Wolfe case timeline](https://wjla.com/news/local/justin-wolfe-death-row-virginia-marijuana-drug-supplier-history-timeline-prince-william-attorney-law-enforcement-judge-trial). WJLA 7News, Sept. 29, 2026. (news report)
9. [Carlton Fields Secures Release of Wrongfully Convicted Virginia Death Row Client After 25 Years](https://www.carltonfields.com/newsroom/news/2026/carlton-fields-secures-release-of-wrongfully-convicted-virginia-death-row-client-after-25-years). Carlton Fields (Wolfe's counsel), press release, Oct. 2, 2026. (news report)
10. [Justin Wolfe Gets Death Penalty](https://connectionnewspapers.com/news/2002/aug/27/justin-wolfe-gets-death-penalty). Connection Newspapers, Aug. 27, 2002. (news report)
11. [Pathway to Freedom for Justin Wolfe?](https://www.burkeconnection.com/news/2025/jul/16/pathway-to-freedom-for-justin-wolfe/). Burke Connection, July 16, 2025. (news report)