Seth Rosen at the Progress had some interesting news on Saturday that I don’t want to let slip by. The still-forming police advisory committee won’t have investigative powers, the city has decided. The panel, made up of Charlottesville citizens, will apparently have no power, other than (presumably) to raise a stink if they see something inappropriate going on. The last such group to exist in the city — active from 1990-97 — had the ability to interview witnesses and access internal misconduct complaints. Chief Timothy Longo points to the 17/45 rate of sustaining complaints of rule violations against officers last year as a sign that the police department is willing to discipline its officers.
Archive for the 'Law and Justice' Category
From the Progress and the Waynesboro News Virginian, some addition developments in the case of yesterday’s shootings on Route 64:
- Charges have now been filed against Slade Woodson and an unnamed 16-year-old in the case, “Dumb” in the “Dumb and Dumber” duo. Felony malicious wounding, using a firearm in the commission of a felony and maliciously shooting at an occupied vehicle are just the beginning of what will surely be a heaping serving of legal trouble for the pair. They’re facing twenty charges between the two of them.
- The house the duo shot up was the home of Woodson’s apparent nemesis, a fellow student whose questioning by police last year led to Woodson’s prior conviction. This is not the first time Woodson has made a scene at the household — he’s a regular there
- Not content to merely abandon his own laughably recognizable vehicle — a bright orange 1974 Gremlin — that he’d used for the crime spree, Woodson left the .22 shell casings in the vehicle, which were recovered by police. No doubt his fingerprints are all over them.
- The guy shot by police at the time of the arrest this morning is in stable condition, but his identity and specific condition hasn’t been revealed.
- The injuries sustained by the two occupants of vehicles were slight enough that police suspect they might have been caused by shards of glass from the shot-out windows rather than the bullet themselves.
For those of y’all who aren’t familiar with firearms, a .22 is the smallest caliber bullet you’re likely to come across. Both handguns and rifles commonly fire .22s. They have so little powder in them that there’s very little recoil, making it simple to aim a weapon that takes this cartridge. If you had to pick a caliber to be shot in the shoulder with, this would be the way to go. But though it might be small, it’ll punch right through the side of a car and, once it starts to tumble, tear up anybody in its way. Jackson Landers (disclosure: my brother) coincidentally explained this on his blog just two days ago.
Though it remains to be seen which law enforcement agency is responsible for this — Albemarle or state — somebody deserves a lot of credit for making an arrest within 30 hours of the first shot being fired. This could have been a source of a lot of fear and anger, but instead it was wrapped up immediately.
In one of the stupidest moves I’ve seen a local business make in a long time, the X Lounge blanketed UVa with spam today, apparently sending thousands of e-mails to UVa employees. The 7.1kb message appeared to originate from The Event Company, who shares an address with the downtown restaurant. The e-mail didn’t even make a gesture at compliance with the CAN-SPAM Act, the federal law that makes precisely this sort of thing illegal. It appears that all e-mail addresses were harvested from UVa’s online staff phone book, which is maintained for the convenience of employees. I received the e-mail via a UVa address that I do not use for anything. I don’t give it out, I don’t send e-mail under it, and the only place it’s listed anywhere is in that UVa LDAP directory.
The X Lounge can expect a pretty stiff upbraiding from UVa’s network administrators tomorrow. If they’re lucky, they may get off with reimbursing the university for their bandwidth costs. But if they catch the UVa postmaster on a bad day — and with the number of complaints bound to roll in, it may be a bad day tomorrow, indeed — they may find themselves on the wrong end of a formal complaint to to the Federal Trade Commission.
Writing a script to dig through UVa’s staff directory and then sending e-mail to every one of them is both illegal and a really, really bad idea. It takes a special kind of stupid not to know that.
The lawsuit over the serial rapist DNA testing has been dismissed, CBS 19 reports. Larry Monroe filed a lawsuit against the city in 2004 after being compelled to submit to DNA testing on the basis of his race and sex, even seeking class action status a year later. CBS 19 does not, oddly, say why the suit was dismissed, but does point out that Monroe can still appeal.
It was just yesterday that Nathan Antonio Washington was sentenced after being arrested on the basis of DNA evidence, though that DNA evidence did not result from the widespread testing of black men. The woman who gave police the crucial tip received a $60,000 reward today.
Nathan Antonio Washington was sentenced to four life terms this afternoon, Rob Seal writes in the Daily Progress. Just before his sentence was read, the notorious serial rapist said to the judge: “I didn’t mean for these things to happen they way they did. I had no self-control. I always thought I was good, until I was tempted.” Oddly, he only pleaded guilty to five rapes, with Seal writing that “a sixth attack will not be pursued.” Lab results will show whether he should also be charged with a 1997 rape in Waynesboro.
Legislation before the General Assembly would force us taxpayers to pay for new developments, Scott Weaver explains in C-Ville Weekly. SB768, proposed by Sen. John Watkins (R-Midlothian), would eliminate proffers entirely, replacing them with straight-up impact fees. Under this system, the $41M in proffers for Biscuit Run would have been just $25M, leaving Albemarle citizens holding even more of the bag than we are now. (If I may mangle a metaphor.) Incidentally, Sen. Watkins has received more contributions from developers than any other business sector, $155k and counting. The bill has passed committee, and is likely to pass the Senate shortly, from which it will pass over to the House for approval.
Incidentally, a pair of those links are to Richmond Sunlight, a site that I run about the General Assembly. Since the legislature is in session right now, as they will be for the next month, every bit of my spare time is spent on Richmond Sunlight. If y’all are feeling ignored here lately, that’s why.
Every few years, some downtown restaurant or bar plays music way too loudly way too late at night. Citizens get angry, a result of the ineffective noise ordinance, and City Council finally agrees to do something about it. The restaurant gets upset and says it’s not fair that they’re being targeted. Then the restaurant capitulates — or goes out of business — and the ordinance never passes. Repeat.
The cycle has begun anew. This time, as Dave McNair writes for The Hook, four businesses’ noisy nights have led the city to consider tightening up its noise ordinance. The Buddhist Biker Bar, Outback Lodge, LaTaza and Saxx have all annoyed enough of their neighbors with late-night music that the city figures they should just enact a blanket nighttime decibel restriction on restaurants and bars. The plan is to stick with the existing 75db limit, but make it run from 10pm-6m, seven days a week, rather than the narrower window that varies by day of week that’s the existing standard.
Raelyn Balfour has been found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of her infant, Rob Seal writes in the Progress. The wrenching trial sought to determine whether Balfour, who forgot to leave her nine-month-old son at daycare and instead left her in the car, had committed a crime. The Iraq veteran worked at the Judge Advocate General School, which is where the incident took place.
I’m not sure that anybody wanted to see this woman in prison.
The woman who built a razor wire fence to stop Rivanna Trail hikers from crossing her property has settled her lawsuit with the Rivanna Trails Foundation and the city, the Daily Progress reports. Shirley Presley was angry with the RTF after they published a map showing that the city-encircling trail ran through her property. She put up razor wire to stop trespassers, a violation of city law, which led to her lawsuit to get the RTF and the city to make people stop. The terms of the settlement were not released.
The city is dropping their citation of Gerry Mitchell for jaywalking, WINA reports. Commonwealth’s attorney Dave Chapman found a technicality on which he could drop the charges: ยง46.2-925 specifies “pedestrian control signals exhibiting the words ‘Walk’ or ‘Don’t Walk’,” and thus Mitchell’s crossing was legal, since the intersection only exhibits walk and don’t walk icons. The ill-advised ticketing came after Mitchell was hurled from his wheelchair when a police car collided with him.
Double H Farms have gotten about the friendliest possible court ruling, Rob Seal writes in today’s Daily Progress. Richard Bean and Jean Rinaldi had expected the worst after their bizarre SWAT-style arrest on a labeling offense back in September, but the judge who OKd dropping nearly all of the charges and the fine actually volunteered that farming laws just don’t make any sense, and that the legislature should fix them. They had to plead guilty to a single count of transporting uninspected meat for sale, and they’ve had to agree to comply with all state and federal farming regulations.
Incidentally, none of the 127 bills pre-filed for this January’s General Assembly session address farming. But there are thousands more bills to come, so it’s certainly not too late.
Rob Seal reported in the Progress a couple of days ago that a former Whisper Ridge resident is suing the mental health facility for $10.35M. The anonymous plaintiff just recently turned 18, and alleges that he was physically and sexually abused while there between 2003-5. Which, odds are, is true. It seems that Whisper Ridge (formerly The Brown Schools, before that The Millmont Center) has broken just about every law, regulation, and standard of decency that’s possible (see exhibits a, b, c, d and e), so if I were a betting man, I’d place my money on the kid winning the case. I guess what’s amazing is that it took this long for somebody to sue this place.
Nathan Washington has pleaded guilty to four of the serial rapes, NBC 29 reports. Prosecutors have agreed to charge him in only four of the seven cases in exchange for his guilty plea. With the deal comes a recommendation for a life sentence on each charge. It was just four months ago that Washington was arrested. Washington is a husband and father of three, and lived in Woodbrook and worked as a Daily Progress deliverman and Harris Teeter meat cutter until his arrest. There’s no word on when sentencing will take place. Suffice it to say, he’s never getting out of prison.
9:15pm Update: Lisa Provence reports for The Hook on how Washington was caught, something that many of us have been wondering. It turns out that one of his victims spotted him in the parking lot of the UVa Aquatics and Fitness Center, the same place where he’d attacked her in 2002. She’d also seen him at Harris Teeter. So she wrote down the plate number and called the cops. They put him on surveillance, and a detective grabbed a disposable cup that he’d thrown away after drinking from. The DNA results came back quickly, showing it was a perfect match to every attack, and they arrested him three days later. That’s some clever, efficient work on the part of both police and the alert victim.
Former Western Albemarle High School teacher Neal Willetts has been given a ten year federal prison sentence for attempting to sexually entice a student over the internet. The 26-year-old taught social studies at WAHS two years ago. Shortly after then, while teaching in the United Arab Emirates, he sent graphic sexual e-mails to a 15-year-old male student. Ten years is the minimum allowed under federal guidelines.
Sending sexually explicit e-mails to a former student gets you ten years in a federal penitentiary. Actually having sex with students at school? That’ll get you just twenty one months. The law tells us that Willetts would have been better off molesting one of his students than talking dirty to him from 12,000 miles away. But the law, as Dickens wrote, is an ass.
The couple roughed up by a police officer on Water St. have been acquitted, Lindsay Barnes reports for The Hook. One was charged with public drunkenness, the other obstruction of justice. The allegation of police brutality surfaced six weeks ago. Judge Robert Downer ruled in favor of both of them, but also held that the officer was “entirely justified in reacting immediately to prevent any interference.”
I’ve often lamented that the headlines when somebody’s accused of a crime are far bigger than when they’re acquitted. So I must call up that charges have been dropped against one of the Whisper Ridge employees who was accused of molesting two kids in his care, Rob Seal writes in the Progress. One of the victims has dropped out of sight, leaving just one to testify against Bryan Antwann Vaughan. Without corroboration, the county says they can’t move forward. Vaughan says he’s innocent. It’s possible that other similar charges will be brought against him, though.
Four others were indicted, part of the never ending series of charges against the utterly incompetent mental health facilities.
A judge has thrown out Jim Camblos’ bullshit charges against political opponent Debbie Wyatt, WINA reports on their unlinkable website. The charges were filed the night before the election, accusing Wyatt of violating a common-law charge contained within the Magna Carta. The thing stank to high heaven as a last-minute revenge ploy against Wyatt, and Judge William Ledbetter agreed, declaring that it “would be an injustice” to proceed with the case. Of course, Camblos will remain in office through the end of the year, so he’s still got time for more shenanigans. 10:35pm Update: Rob Seal’s got the story at the Progress.
In the Hook’s profile of commonwealth’s attorney Jim Camblos, he eventually realized he couldn’t defend himself. By the time Lisa Provence asked him why he didn’t bring charges in the death of the Deane family on 29N, he flat out refused to discuss it. Based on last night’s candidate forum, it looks like Camblos has discovered what the rest of us know: his record is indefensible. As Rob Seal writes in today’s Daily Progress, Camblos refused to stand on his record when challenged on it. Democratic challenger Denise Lunsford pledged to restore the good name of the office, citing Camblos’ habitual bungling of serious cases, setting criminals free. Camblos simply wouldn’t respond, providing only the non sequitur that he’d “stay positive,” thus declaring that even he thinks his record is a negative.
Sheriff candidates Chip Harding (the Republican) and Larry Claytor (the Democrat) seem to have had a more informative exchange at the event. Claytor is campaigning on simply doing what the sheriff’s office is tasked to do and doing it well — transporting prisoners, serving people papers and securing the courtroom — while Harding is campaigning on expanding the office’s mission, creating a new system in which deputies would track down online sexual predators. Ironically, this places both of them in the opposite camps that would traditionally be expected for the two parties, with Harding seeking to expand government and Claytor seeking to hold the line. Presumably Harding’s time in the Charlottesville Police and the Claytor’s pedigree as an Albemarle Republican has something to do with that.
White supremacist, pedophile, and wife-beater (the trifecta) Kevin Strom has had two charges dropped against him, Rob Seal reports in the Progress. It turns out that it’s totally legal for a grown man to obsess over a ten-year-old girl, send her gifts and love letters, suggest marriage, and cruise by her house. It’s also totally legal for him to beat and threaten his wife after she reports him to the police — that’s not, in fact, intimidating a witness. There do, however, remain the child pornography charges on which he was arrested in January. I’d bet cash that he’ll spend more time in prison for just looking at child porn than somebody who’d actually had sex with a kid. (And probably as much as somebody who sent sexual IMs to a kid.)
But you’ve got to love this part of the story, about Strom’s wife walking in on him:
“She caught him masturbating, but I’m sure that he was not the only one in the county doing that,” [Judge Norman] Moon said in court. “And it’s not a crime, so far.”
I don’t know what’s more awesome — Judge Moon declaring that, or Rob Seal including it in the story.
One year after he was first accused and three months after he pleaded guilty, former CHS choir director Jonathan Spivey has been sentenced to 21 months in prison, Rob Seal reports for the Progress. (He was actually sentenced to twenty years, but the remainder was suspended.) When released he’ll be on probation for five years and have to register as a sex offender.
From the “What The?!” files comes the story of Jennifer Dowell White, who was held in the jail for a month for no apparent reason, Lisa Provence reports for The Hook. She appeared before a city grand jury on August 20, who was considering indicting her for obtaining money under false pretenses, but they decided not to. Nonetheless, she was held in jail until just yesterday, the apparent fault of Charlottesville Clerk Paul Garrett. Her attorney had repeatedly requested a copy of the indictment that would presumably be required to keep White in jail, but Garrett wouldn’t send it — the paperwork had apparently been lost in his office. Garrett declined comment.
Garrett was last in the news back in April, when he was caught obtaining $52,000 from the state by lying about getting his office’s records online. Garrett, a Democrat, was most recently reelected in 2003.
9:30pm Update: I see that Henry Graff reported on this for NBC 29 and did get a comment out of Paul Garrett. He said that he wasn’t necessarily the obstacle, that “there are various ways that could have been addressed,” though not knowing anything about the legal system, it’s all greek to me.
In this week’s Hook, Lisa Provence has a lengthy profile of Jim Camblos and the criticism that has been heaped upon him in the past few years. Provence talked to me for the piece, since I’ve never been shy about criticizing the Albemarle County commonwealth’s attorney, and some of my quotes are sprinkled throughout the article to create a sort of back and forth between me and Camblos.
When asked about his most serious screwup — Cambos’ refusal to so much as issue a traffic ticket to woman who killed a woman and her grandchildren while driving on on 29 — he doesn’t even attempt to defend himself, simply refusing to discuss it. On other matters, Camblos complains that his critics are “people who don’t know all the facts,” which either means a) that all local media outlets have conspired against Camblos to refuse to provide the public with “all the facts” or b) that Camblos is refusing to provide the facts. What with his refusal to, y’know, provide the facts when asked for them by Provence, this isn’t a real tough nut to crack.
Bizarrely, Camblos claims that anybody who criticizes him either doesn’t live in Albemarle or is part of “certain segment of the media.” I can’t claim to be particularly surprised: this is the same man who once brought charges against a child in part because he was born on Hitler’s birthday. Reality’s not his strong suit.
Defending him, his coworkers point out that Camblos loves puppies, rainbows, and long walks on the beach. Camblos insists that he’s all about “respect, compassion, and dignity,” which contrasts sharply with the mug he’s photographed drinking out of, emblazoned with these words: “Reduce defense spending–plead guilty.”
Remember the BS charges brought against four UVa students after they filmed a scene that involved a BB gun for a class assignment? Albemarle commonwealth’s attorney Jim Camblos actually charged them each with “brandishing a firearm.” Well, four months later Camblos was forced to accept that the charges were just goofy — Brian McNeill reports in the Daily Progress that Camblos has dropped the charges against the kids.
The whole thing smacked of his equally ludicrous charges in the “smoke bombers” case this time last year, when he charged those middle school students with conspiring to “blow up” their school. After the case led to an acquittal, Camblos showed no interest in his universal condemnation, even pointing to the fact that one of the accused kids’ birthdays was also the anniversary of Columbine as evidence against him. This time around, Camblos realized that he’d have to drop the charges, since no judge or jury would rule against these kids, and managed to keep himself from threatening the media for violating a non-existent gag order. Those who need to get caught up can look at my year-old compilation of the most outrageous things that Camblos has ever done.
It’s well worth noting that Camblos is running for reelection this year — he’s seeking a third term. I sent $50 to his challenger, Denise Lunsford, via her website a few days ago. There’s not much I know about Lunsford, other than that she’s not Camblos. That’s good enough for me. On the other hand, if Lunsford wins, what in the world would I write about for the next four years? I’d be like Jon Stewart without Bush as president.
Nathan Antonio Washington was arrested on the basis of DNA evidence, commonwealth’s attorney Jim Camblos told the Daily Progress today. Given that his DNA is a match to two attacks, and those two attacks were a DNA match to the rest of the rapes, it’s now quite clear why Washington was arrested earlier this week and what cause there is to suspect him to be the serial rapist. Law enforcement officials had previously declined to explain how they came to decide upon arresting Washington. He waived his first scheduled court appearance today, a bond hearing, but he’s due back in court next week.
There’s been the first real break in the serial rapist case. The Hook broke the story that jibes with the information I’ve been getting over the past couple of hours. A suspect was arrested this morning. He’s married, lives in Woodbrook, and works at Harris Teeter. With a decade of consistent, solid DNA evidence in the case, it should be a snap to determine whether he’s the guy. There will be a joint city/county press conference at 4pm to provide details.
12:55pm Update: CBS 19 reports that the suspect is 40-year-old Nathan Antonio Washington of Old Brook Road. He’s been charged only in the August 2004 attack.
1:20pm Update: Regular commenter “Stormy” writes to point out that while CBS 19 names Washington in their story, they stop short of actually saying that he’s the suspect in the serial rapes. That was my inference as a reader, because it would be pretty random to name some unrelated guy in such an article. Anyhow, we’ll all have to hold onto our collective hat until 4pm to find out whether Washington’s arrest on the August 2004 rape charges is one and the same as the arrest of the serial rapist.
5:15pm Update: Well, the press conference was every bit as frustrating as police warned it would be. There’s basically no new information. They arrested Tony Washington shortly after midnight, and they’ve charged him with two of the rapes. Previously about all that police could say was that there was a DNA match on all of the rapes, but at the press conference they refused to even confirm that, saying only that Washington is a suspect in the other cases. This is going to leave media outlets torn: do they report that the serial rapist has been caught, or do they toe the cautious line drawn by law enforcement? NBC 29’s 2001 legendary gaffe — accusing some poor guy of possessing cocaine and then refusing to run a correction — surely stands out as a stark warning of what not to do.
Two teenagers have been arrested after an attack on a man at the corner of 10th and Grove last night, the Daily Progress reports. Though the story doesn’t make it entirely clear (it’s a quickie until the full story comes out tomorrow), it sounds like this guy was just driving along when a group of nine kids hurled a rock at his car. The guy stopped and “a confrontation ensued” — given that the kids were charged with malicious wounding, I have to assume that they attacked him. Police don’t know whether these kids are responsible for the series of very similar attacks in the past weeks, but that’s clearly what they suspect.
Both city and county staff are recommending the installation of photo red cameras, Seth Rosen writes in the Progress, which could be in place in a year’s time. The General Assembly authorized localities to install the cameras during their session earlier this year. The city is permitted to add them to four intersections, the county at nine. Municipal staff haven’t made a proposal to their respective elected bodies just yet, since they’re still reviewing the available equipment.
Opponents of photo red cameras point out that VDOT’s own study shows that installing them increases the number of accidents, and that many localities don’t make any money on them at all, because the systems are outsourced. The other problem is that the $50 fine is to be paid by the owner the car; because the driver isn’t pulled over by police, though, the driver can easily challenge the ticket and claim that he wasn’t driving.
The Hook recently demonstrated that the town’s most frequently run red light has such a short green light that only one car can get through. They found a car ran that 29/Rio red every single time that the light changed. Seems to me that there’s no need for a camera — a pair of cops could sit there and tag-team light runners all day long. Heck, I’d bring ‘em a glass of iced tea to thank them for their troubles.
Former CHS choir director Jonathan Spivey has pleaded guilty to indecent sexual liberties with a minor, Liesel Nowak writes for the Progress. Apparently, the sexual encounters were consensual, taking place in his office and in the choir robe chamber next to his office. The 47-year-old was first accused of sexual contact with his students last September, indicted in December, promptly committed to Martha Jefferson’s psychiatric ward, and then resigned his job. Spivey was also the minister of music at Mount Zion Baptist Church, though it looks like he may still hold that position, since he’s still listed as staff on the church’s website.
The director of operations at Whisper Ridge Behavioral Health System has pleaded guilty to attempted carnal knowledge of a minor in her care, the Daily Progress reported yesterday. Bianca Nicole Johnson has been sentenced to a year’s probation, and is cooperating in the cases against four other employees indicted on similar charges. The facility (formerly known as The Brown Schools, formerly known as The Millmont Center, and I think it was Charter before that) has been in trouble time and time again for sexual assault, an inability to deal with their own patients, even human rights violations.
And Whisper Ridge changes their name again in 3…2…1…
The Charlottesville Police want to install 30 cameras to monitor your every movement while downtown, Seth Rosen writes in today’s Progress. The two city councilors contacted for the story both expressed unease at the proposal, with Kendra Hamilton citing George Orwell’s “1984.” The cost of the cameras alone is estimated at $300,000. It’s my understanding that the crime downtown is quite low, in proportion to the population, a result of there being so many eyes on would-be criminals most of the time. Wouldn’t it make more sense to propose an CCTV installation in the areas with the most crime?
I’d wondered to what to attribute the “We Buy Houses” signs all around the county, planted illegally in the right of way. (The sign at right was planted by DMT Properties, one of dozens that literally litter the landscape.) They’re a scam, of course, but Commonwealth Attorney Jim Camblos has apparently chosen to turn a blind eye. Turns out there’s a reason for the flourishing signs, as Brian McNeill points out: rising adjustable mortgage rates mean that people’s homes are being foreclosed on as they fall behind on their payments. The purpose of the signs is to prey on these desperate souls, offering them false hope at a chance to escape foreclosure.
Foreclosure notes in the paper during the first quarter of this year are up 27% from the same period last year. The Piedmont Housing Alliance says they simply can’t keep up with homeowners seeking help, which has increased by five-fold since this time last year. Subprime lenders have provided mortgages to people who simply can’t afford them, and now the industry is collapsing.
I’m mystified that no local media outlet has done a story about DMT Properties and their ilk. The business is a scam, their method of promotion is unsightly and blatantly illegal, and yet nobody says boo. What gives?
05/29 Update: DMT Properties responds.
Privacy advocate B.J. Ostergren, who keeps a close eye on clerks of court throughout the state, has caught Charlottesville Clerk of Court Paul Garrett in what might most nicely be described as a lie, but I suspect it’s something closer to fraud. As Liesel Nowak reports in today’s Progress, Garrett had certified to the state on three occasions that he’d made land records available online when, in fact, he’d done no such thing. He’d also claimed that his office now had a website when, in fact, the domain charlottesvillevaccoc.org has been registered, but doesn’t even point to a website. On the strength of those claims, the State Compensation Board had provided Garrett with $21,600 and set aside another $30,860 for the project, but they’ve now withdrawn that funding. A spokesman for the city says that, in fact, the city is in the midst of the bidding process, considering three vendors for the project.
Garrett is a well-known and well-liked local Democrat who was most recently reelected in 2003, securing the nomination over challenger Vanessa Hicks, who promised to get the court’s records available online if elected.
As stunning as it is that Garrett would tell such a bald-faced lie to the Compensation Board, it does not speak well of the Compensation Board that they would not so much as click on his website URL to check whether or not it actually exists, or check on his claim that his office was providing remote access to land records.
Charlottesville Court deputy clerk Janet Ferrance is running for Albemarle Circuit Court Clerk, the Progress reports. She’s seeking the Democratic nomination, and it’s said that she may not be the only one to do so. Republican John Dawson has already announced his candidacy. The winner will take the place of Shelby Marshall, who is retiring after forty years.
Scottsville’s Gary Peck has pleaded guilty to growing marijuana, but argues that it was for his sick wife, Liesel Nowak wrote in Tuesday’s Daily Progress. The man’s wife suffers from multiple sclerosis, which at least one study has demonstrated is helped considerably by the consumption of marijuana, leading to both short- and long-term relief of symptoms. The drug slows the death of nerve cells and protect existing nerve cells against damage, slowing the spread of the disease. Peck’s wife cited its effect on her appetite, which allows her to eat despite the nausea induced by her prescribed medications.
Peck was accused of growing $4.8M in weed, but that’s using the police’s “street value” logic, which is akin to determining the “street value” of a sack of flour by calculating how many wedding cakes it could make. The court determined $35k was a fairer value, apparently agreeing with the man’s attorney, who calculates that the haul would only yield a few pounds of smokable marijuana. Peck will be sentenced in July. He may well receive 30 years in prison.
County police issued a press release this afternoon (below) announcing the arrest of two Henley Middle School students in the bomb threat at Henley on Tuesday. Each has been charged with “constructing and/or placing a hoax explosive device,” and one has been charged with “threats to bomb or damage buildings.” With the press release came a screen capture from video taken of the cylinders that raised concern. The one pictured here was taped to a pole in front of Brownsville Elementary. Two other “round cylinders” (do they make ‘em any other way?) were found on the roof of Henley and one on the corner of the building. The identity of the two kids isn’t being released, but it’ll be on MySpace within the hour, no doubt.
Shelby Marshall, Albemarle Circuit Court Clerk for the past forty years, is stepping down, Liesel Nowak reports in the Progress. Marshall will complete her eighth term, and will be replaced by whomever is elected to the office. WINA points out that she hasn’t had a challenger since 1983, when Fred Heblich ran against her. This is shaping up to be the most exciting local election in some years.
William Beebe was sentenced to 18 months in prison today for the 1984 sexual assault of Liz Seccuro, the Daily Progress reports. Beebe confessed to the crime in a letter to Seccuro in January of last year, as a part of a twelve-step program, only to claim that he didn’t do it when he was subsequently arrested. Changing his mind again, Beebe pleaded guilty in November, which is what led to today’s sentencing.
In this week’s Hook Dave McNair writes about the General Assembly allowing localities to install traffic cameras, presenting convincing evidence that they’re just trouble. VDOT’s own study concluded that red light cameras increase injury rates at intersections, and they found that simply lengthening yellow light times resulted in staggering drops in accident rates. McNair quotes county spokeswoman Lee Catlin supporting red light cameras, meaning that they may be coming to an intersection near you.
Nobody answering The Hook’s question of the week supports red light cameras. I feel better — I was starting to wonder if I was the only Democrat in the state who thinks red light cameras are a terrible idea.
This time it’s for real: Somebody other than Jim Camblos has been selected by regional Republican legislators to replace Circuit Court Judge Paul Peatross. That somebody is Ivy resident, Republican, attorney, and former assistant commonwealth’s attorney Cheryl Higgins. The General Assembly still has to vote to accept the nomination, which is scheduled for tomorrow, but odds are vanishingly close to zero that they’d reject her.
The Republican majority figured this out among themselves, with some press announcing the arrangement even before some regional Democrats in the General Assembly learned about it. Three cheers for bipartisanship.
02/23 Update: Bob Gibson has a proper review of the outcome in today’s Progress.
Charlottesville police captain Chip Harding is preparing to run for Albemarle County sheriff, The Hook reports. He’s planning an announcement on Tuesday.
It’s been widely rumored that Sheriff Ed Robb — who took the job after being knocked out of the state senate by the late Emily Couric — has been planning on retiring and intends for Harding, a fellow Republican, to succeed him. Robb won last time around, despite getting less than half of the vote, because he faced a pair of independent challengers who divided up the remaining 51% of the vote. His tenure has not been a particularly impressive one, including declaring his deputy’s still-unexplained shooting a “hate crime” and proposing that we camouflage the jail so that terrorists can’t find it.
Larry Claytor, one of Robb’s opponents last time around, is widely expected to run again.
Bob Gibson writes in today’s Daily Progress that the contest for Judge Paul Peatross’ now-vacated seat comes down to Republicans Cheryl Higgins and Jim Camblos. The other applicants might be perfectly fine, but they’re not a) Republicans or b) playing the political game. Legislative aides are awash in complaints about the possibility of a Judge Camblos — constituent calls are about opposing him, not supporting others, because he’s just that unpopular of a guy. Del. Bill Janis, an old friend of Camblos, fully intends to put partisanship ahead of good public policy, but Gibson figures that Dels. Rob Bell and David Toscano are probably undecided at this point.
If you want to express your feelings on the candidates, you can contact Del. Bell’s office (804-698-1058, DelRBell@house.state.va.us), Del. Janis’ office (804-698-1056, DelBJanis@house.state.va.us), or Del. Toscano’s office (804-698-1057, DelDToscano@house.state.va.us), depending on who your delegate is. Sen. Ken Stolle is the guy who ultimately calls the shots on this, since he’s the chair of the Senate Courts of Justice Committee, so those with particularly strong feelings would want to contact his office (804-698-7508, district08@sov.state.va.us). No matter who you call, you’ll be greeted by somebody whose sole job is to take calls like this — it just takes a minute, and can make all the difference. Unless your representative is Del. Janis. I can’t see how that’ll do anything.
Judge Robert Downer has been endorsed for Circuit Court Paul Peatross’ seat by the Madison-Greene Bar Association, The Hook reports. Downer was endorsed by the Charlottesville-Albemarle Bar Association earlier this month. There is widespread speculation that Reps. Rob Bell and Bill Janis intend to nominate Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Camblos for partisan reasons, despite that four municipalities’ bar associations have now given him a vote of no confidence.
Judicial nominations were introduced to and passed by the Senate and the House of Delegates today — Judge Bob Downer has been appointed to the 16th judicial district to replace Judge Paul Peatross, effective June 1. Downer was one of the two candidates recommended by the bar, so his appointment comes as no particular surprise.
1:45pm Update: “iknowcville” points out that Downer has simply been reappointed to the same seat in this bill, making everything that I wrote entirely wrong. Or, rather, it may turn out to be correct, but that would just be a lucky coincidence. SR43, which makes the circuit court nominations, is entirely silent on Peatross’ replacement.
01/24 Update: Bob Gibson writes that Downer’s reappointment may well indicate that he’s out of the running for Peatross’ seat. In an interview with Del. Bill Janis it becomes clear that our representatives have no interest in following the bar’s recommendations and see this appointment as political, rather than merit-based, unlike virtually everybody else in the community.
All seven people seeking to be named as the replacement for Judge Paul Peatross attended a forum held last night by Del. Rob Bell. (NBC 29, CBS 19, DP) Bell did not attend his forum, and he likewise missed the bar association’s forum. Only two of those candidates were recommended by the bar — Judge Robert Downer and prosecutor Cheryl Higgins — but the General Assembly is functionally free to pick anybody that they want. The purpose of the forum was to have a committee of five people, selected by Del. Bell, quiz the applicants and render their verdict on who would make the best candidate. The only un-endorsements from the audience were from people speaking out against Albemarle Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Camblos. The positive comments were largely in favor of Judge Downer and Camblos. Though, as it turns out, Camblos’ praise was a setup.
One reporter tells me that, after talking with some of the speakers and all of the judicial candidates, he caught Jim Camblos stacking the deck. All of the other candidates respected process, while it turns out that Camblos convinced five people to attend the forum to stand up and speak in support of him. That kind of