Update: A Virginia judge has ordered that former D.C. firefighter Elon Wilson be released from prison in the wake of revelations that his arresting officer lied about the reasons Wilson was stopped in 2018 — revelations that have also raised questions about hundreds of other arrests, charges and convictions linked to that officer.

In an order issued Tuesday, Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Daniel Ortiz said Wilson’s initial stop — after which guns and drugs were found in the car — was unlawful because it was based on “misrepresentations” by former Fairfax Police Officer Jonathan Freitag. Those misrepresentations, which were unknown to Wilson’s defense attorney at the time but were ultimately exposed during an internal affairs investigation, led Wilson to plead guilty, largely to avoid a possible sentence of up to a decade in prison. He was ultimately sentenced to serve three years.

“Freitag’s misrepresentations tainted every part of the judicial mechanism, from the charges against Wilson, to the magistrate’s probable cause determination, to the Commonwealth’s plea-bargaining tactics,” wrote Ortiz in his order. “His false grounds for stopping Wilson contravened a key aspect of the federal Constitution, from which all states derive their power and legitimacy. Freitag’s actions betrayed the public’s trust in its institutions and the court.”

Wilson’s cause was pursued by his defense attorney and Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano, who last week asked that Wilson’s conviction be tossed out and he be freed from state prison. Descano also said that his office was investigating more than 400 other cases linked to Freitag.

Original: A Virginia judge on Friday agreed to toss out the 2019 conviction of former D.C. firefighter Elon Wilson on drug and gun charges, agreeing with defense attorneys and Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano that racial bias may have been at play in the arresting officer’s initial stop and arrest.

Descano, a progressive prosecutor who took office last year, said the case was one of more than 400 stops by a former Fairfax County police officer his office has been investigating, and could lead to further moves to vacate judgements against defendants for everything from traffic offenses, to misdemeanors and felonies.

“Mr. Wilson was the victim of a culture in this criminal justice system that prioritized conviction over justice, that prioritized finality over justice, and that is the thing that I know myself and my staff have been working to change that culture since I took office,” Descano said outside the courthouse after the ruling.

The ruling by Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Daniel Ortiz could mean that Wilson might be freed from state prison in a matter of weeks, where he has been serving out a three-year sentence stemming from the 2018 arrest when he was found with a passenger in a car containing drugs and guns.

Jonathan Freitag, the arresting officer, initially said he had stopped Wilson, who was 23 at the time, for improperly crossing a solid yellow line and for having excessively tinted windows. Faced with a sentence approaching 10 years for drugs and guns found in the car, Wilson took an Alford plea, which is when a defendant doesn’t admit guilt but concedes there’s enough evidence to secure a conviction.

It was only after Wilson started serving his sentence that his attorney, Marvin Miller, was made aware of an internal affairs investigation into Freitag. According to a court filing, the investigation found evidence that the officer “systematically stopped motorists without a legal basis and then fabricated the basis for the stops in his reports” and “admitted to a third party to engaging in racial profiling in determining which motorists to stop.”

During the investigation, video from a dashboard-mounted camera was found to contradict Freitag’s claim that Wilson crossed a solid yellow line. Freitag later said he did not test the tint on the car’s windows to see if it was actually illegal. According to a court filing from Descano, “the basis for the stop … was completely fabricated by the officer.”

The investigators reviewed 40 of Freitag’s 1,400 traffic stops, and found in each of those the basis for the stop was “untruthful.” But speaking to The Washington Post last year, Freitag said he had been “cleared of everything” and that he had resigned on his own terms.

Miller said he was shocked to learn of the allegations against Freitag and how they impacted Wilson’s case.

“As a lifelong criminal defense lawyer I have a cynical view about police, but to blatantly create a false image of what happened in a police report is really bad, it’s really wrong,” he said. “It does a disservice not only to the defense, but also the prosecution and the community. The department here acted to do the right thing to resolve the situation.”

But Descano — elected in 2019 as part of a wave of progressive-minded prosecutors, and who is now facing a long-shot recall attempt — said his predecessor also acted too slowly when police uncovered problems with Freitag’s conduct. The allegations came to light in Sept. 2019, but nothing was done to stop Wilson’s transfer to a state prison two months later. Descano said that complicated his efforts to push for Wilson to be freed.

“I want to take the opportunity today to call on the Virginia legislature and our delegates and our senators to make this type of second look more applicable, more readily available for people, and do so in a way where when we have real issues the opportunity for post-conviction release is real and speedy,” he said.

In the meantime, Descano says his office is reviewing more than 400 other cases linked to Freitag. “The officer at issue was, quite frankly, prolific in his stops and his arrests,” he said.

As for Wilson, Miller says he could be freed by as soon as next week.

“He was a real standup firefighter, a really good man, a man who put his life on the line on a regular basis, and it was all shattered by this,” he said. “Now we hope he can rebuild this.”