James Bensfield and Jonathan Kossak* were quoted regarding the Virginia State Bar Criminal Law Section's 2016 Harry L. Carrico Professionalism Award, which was presented to Richmond Commonwealth's Attorney Michael N. Herring. The award, for which Bensfield and Kossak nominated Herring, recognizes an individual who has made a singular and unique contribution to the improvement of the criminal justice system in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Bensfield and Kossak represented Michael Kenneth McAlister in a successful petition for a pardon from the governor in 2015, after McAlister served twenty-nine years in prison for a rape he did not commit. Herring publicly supported the petition. "Mr. Herring did not need to make these statements (supporting McAlister) in such a public way," Bensfield and Kossak said. "He did it because he is a man of integrity, courage, and justice .... He is the sort of prosecutor we all hope exists -- an advocate for justice -- not only for the victims of crime, but for those who the system may, every so often, wrong."

*Former Miller & Chevalier attorney