Virginia governor pardons Matthew Rushin, man with autism serving 10-years for nonfatal car crash

Matthew Rushin has been granted a conditional pardon by Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam.

Rushin, who is diagnosed with autism, was sentenced to a decade in prison for his involvement in a nonfatal car crash, reports NBC News.

The 22-year-old from Virginia Beach, VA was sentenced to 10 years after pleading guilty with no trial in August 2019 for a car crash that severely injured a couple from New York, said Miriam Airington-Fisher, Rushin’s lawyer.

George Cusick and his wife Danna Cusick was disabled by the January 2019 incident, according to Airington-Fisher.

The pardon comes after nearly a two-year social media campaign led by Rushin’s mother, Lavern Rushin, who maintained his innocence and advocated for his release.

“Every day he lived behind bars, we lived behind bars,” Lavern Rushin told NBC News. “We felt his every pain and despair — we wish we could take away the victims’ pain because we know he feels it every day.”

Rushin’s lawyers maintained the crash was “unintentional”, but prosecutors argued Rushin attempted death by suicide by driving into traffic.

Lavern said Rushin had a seizure related to his autism at the time of the incident and that he was never medically evaluated for mental illness before police arrested and interrogated him.

“If they had taken Matthew to the hospital, he probably would have been exonerated,” she said.

The Commonwealth Attorney’s Office released a statement on the pardon:

“Our hearts go out to the victims and their families in this case for the ongoing pain and legal process that they have to endure,” the Commonwealth’s Attorney Office said in a statement. “While it certainly is within the Governor’s authority to (grant a pardon), this office believes that the sentence imposed by the court was appropriate, just and fair.”

“Governor Northam is not altering Mr. Rushin’s conviction in any way. Matthew Rushin remains convicted of the felonies to which he pled guilty,” the attorney’s office said.

After Rushin’s imprisonment, Lavern Rushin took to social media to raise awareness of her son’s arrest and sentencing.

She launched a GoFundMe page that raised more than $115,000 in legal fees in his defense and an online petition that collected nearly 250,000 signatures seeking the release of her son.

She said his early release would not have been possible without the “overwhelming support” from the disability community, as well as celebrities like Beyonce’s mom, Tina Lawson, actress Jamie Lee Curtis, NBA star Dominique Wilkins and music executive Jason Flom.

Rushin was granted a conditional and partial pardon.

Under the governor’s directive, Rushin’s conviction will not be expunged, but he will be released “no earlier than Spring 2021” under an approved home plan with an assigned Virginia Parole Board officer for five years, the governor’s office said.

Rushin is required to participate in mental health and counseling services, in addition to substance abuse evaluations, according to the governor’s office.

He will also be prohibited from driving for the rest of his life, and he is not permitted to own a firearm or make contact with the victims of the car crash.

Violating the conditions within the next decade will place Rushin back into prison to complete the remainder of his original sentence.