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Thread: Russell Ervin Brown III Sentenced in 2013 VA Slaying of State Trooper Junius A. Walker

  1. #21
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    Trooper’s family floods courtroom as suspect appears in court

    The family of slain Virginia State Master Trooper Junius Walker thanked the public for their continued support as they left the courthouse Tuesday.

    Inside Dinwiddie Circuit Court, Walker’s family members came face to face with Russell Brown, his alleged killer.

    Brown kept his head down for most of the brief proceedings, which set a timetable for the rest of the trial.

    Prosecutors and the defense agreed on the doctor that will perform a mental evaluation on Brown. That will determine if he is mentally competent enough to understand the charges he faces and stand trial.

    Since this is a capital murder trial, Brown could face the death penalty.

    Much like the judicial process, the grieving process is taking time for Trooper Walker’s family. Pastor Steven Pugh spoke on behalf of the family.

    “Every loss demands an appropriate season of grief,” said Pugh. “They just want justice to prevail and to remind the community not to stop praying for them. To pray that the right thing will be done.”

    Brown’s lawyers declined to comment on the case.

    The findings of the mental health evaluation will be released during Brown’s next court appearance on Jan 21.

    http://wtvr.com/2013/10/22/russell-brown-hearing/
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  2. #22
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    Trooper Walker’s alleged killer found incompetent to stand trial

    The man accused of killing Virginia State Master Trooper J.A. Walker last year was deemed incompetent to stand trial during a Friday court hearing.The Dinwiddie County Commonwealth’s Attorney said that Russell Brown was found incompetent to stand trial after a mental examination by a psychologist.

    Brown, 28, was charged with capital murder of a police officer, attempted capital murder of a police officer and use of a firearm in committing a felony.

    During a brief court hearing in late October, Walker’s family came face to face with his alleged killer.

    Prosecutors and the defense agreed on the doctor that would perform Brown’s mental evaluation to determine if he was mentally competent enough to understand the charges he faces and stand trial. Since this is a capital murder trial, Brown could face the death penalty.

    Last year, a search warrant filed in Chesterfield Circuit Court in connection with the shooting death of Walker provided insight into the the mindset of the accused killer.

    After his capture, Russell Brown told state police that God told him to shoot and kill Walker, according to the court document. Brown also turned to the interviewing trooper and said that the trooper was the next to die.

    According to the warrant, Brown told troopers he smoked marijuana on March 7, the day of the shooting. Police said found residue of a “green leafy substance” in the vehicle Brown was driving. Police also found a magazine containing two live rounds inside the car, according to the warrant.

    Police said they spoke with Brown’s grandmother who said she’d spoken to Russell recently and that over the last month or so he’d been talking about the bible and not making much sense. She said that was unlike her grandson, the warrant indicated.

    The warrant also indicated Brown’s landlord recently called the suspect to inform him he was behind on his rent. The landlord said he noticed Brown had not been acting like himself.

    Thousands of people attended a funeral service for Walker last March. Gov. McDonnell was among the speakers who honored the fallen trooper.

    http://wtvr.com/2014/02/28/trooper-w...o-stand-trial/
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  3. #23
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    Chesterfield man charged with killing state trooper deemed competent

    A Chesterfield County man who had been declared mentally incompetent to stand trial in last year’s slaying of Virginia State Trooper Junius A. Walker has been deemed restored to competency, but the defendant’s lawyers are skeptical and will seek guidance from a mental health expert.

    Dinwiddie County Commonwealth’s Attorney Ann Cabell Baskervill said Central State Hospital doctors have declared Russell E. Brown II, 29, competent to stand trial after several months of rehabilitation at the state psychiatric hospital in Dinwiddie County.

    In March, a judge ordered Brown be sent to Central State after a clinical psychologist determined through a mental evaluation that Brown was incompetent to stand trial in the March 7, 2013, killing of Walker, 63.

    After his arrest, Brown told authorities that God had directed him to shoot Walker and he had exhibited other odd behavior and made unusual comments to family members and others in the weeks leading up to his roadside encounter with the trooper, authorities said.

    During a brief hearing Friday in Dinwiddie Circuit Court, Judge Paul W. Cella granted Brown’s defense lawyers’ request for an expert to help them deal with unspecified competency issues involving their client. The attorneys said they could not elaborate on their concerns because of attorney-client confidentiality, Baskervill said.

    “Essentially, the Central State report indicates he is competent, but the defense team attorneys are uncomfortable or skeptical about that,” Baskervill said Friday.

    Baskervill said she didn’t object to the defense request, noting that the expert is available to assist Brown’s attorneys in November, “so I’m hoping it won’t create any significant delay.”

    The prosecutor said she’s committed to moving the case forward expeditiously and hopes to establish a hearing date soon to begin litigating some of the pretrial issues.

    Baskervill said one of Brown’s attorneys, a lawyer with the Central Virginia Capital Defender’s Office, is also representing a client charged with killing an elderly couple in Colonial Heights and that defendant’s trial is scheduled to last several weeks in December.

    Consequently, Baskervill said the Brown case may be delayed until January. The case was continued to the Dec. 16 grand jury docket but Baskervill said the next court date should be set before then.

    Brown is charged with eight felony counts, including capital murder of a police officer in the killing of Walker, who was shot in his police cruiser on Interstate 85 after the officer rolled up to Brown’s vehicle and stopped on the shoulder to see if Brown needed any help.

    After shooting Walker with a Russian-made Saiga .308-caliber semiautomatic rifle and exchanging gunfire with another trooper, Brown dropped his weapon and fled, disrobing as he ran. He was found hiding naked in the back of a Toyota Camry at a towing company in the 19600 block of Boydton Plank Road.

    http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/lo...0f2a36211.html
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  4. #24
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    Suspect in 2013 Virginia state trooper shooting deemed competent; trial date set

    The man charged with killing a Virginia State Police trooper on Interstate 85 two years ago has been deemed competent to stand trial.

    Court documents confirm that 28-year-old Russell E. Brown of Chesterfield County, has been found competent to stand trial.

    Brown faces capital murder charges after authorities say he gunned down a state trooper in Dinwiddie County on March 7, 2013. He also faces two firearms counts and an attempted capital murder charge for allegedly shooting at another trooper.

    In April 2013, a judge ordered Brown to undergo a mental evaluation to determine whether he was sane at the time of the shooting. Brown told investigators that God made him do it, according to court papers.

    Master Trooper Junius A. Walker, a 40-year veteran of the Virginia State Police, died from multiple gunshot wounds after the incident in Dinwiddie County, just south of Dewitt.

    Police say Master Trooper Junius A. Walker pulled up next to a sedan that was stopped on the side of I-85 south just after 1 p.m. on March 7, 2013. The man in the sedan, believed to be Brown, opened fire on Walker. Walker’s patrol car ran off of the side of the road and came to rest 30 feet from the lanes of travel. A responding trooper witnessed the suspect standing outside of Walker’s patrol car, officials said. The two exchanged gunfire before the suspect fled into the woods.

    It remains unclear as to why the suspect was pulled off onto the side of the road or why he opened fire, police said.

    An estimated crowd of 3,000 attended memorial services for Master Trooper Junius A. Walker on March 12 at the Good Shepherd Baptist Church in Petersburg. Law enforcement representatives from as far away as California were in attendance, along with former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell.

    Trooper Walker left behind a wife and two daughters.

    Brown’s trial date was set for March 2016.

    http://wric.com/2015/03/27/trial-dat...med-competent/
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  5. #25
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    Sanity of trooper's accused killer will be 'significant factor' in his defense

    Attorneys for the Chesterfield County man charged with killing Virginia State Police trooper Junius A. Walker believe the defendant’s sanity “will be a significant factor in his defense” and want a clinical psychologist to determine whether he was insane at the time of the slaying.

    Capital-murder suspect Russell E. Brown III’s public defenders also want to investigate the composition of Dinwiddie County’s grand jury system over the past five years in an apparent effort to detect racial or selection bias in the grand jury process, according to recent court filings in the case.

    Lawyers are seeking “the entire pool of potential members” of the county’s grand jury during the past five years, to include the race, age and gender of each person. They also have requested from Dinwiddie Circuit Court Clerk J. Barrett Chappell Jr. the list of people, along with their demographical information, who ultimately were seated as grand jurors those years.

    The defenders also asked, but were denied, a request to hire the same “victim outreach specialist” used by the defense team representing James Holmes, who currently is on trial in the Aurora, Colo., movie theater shootings that killed 12 people in July 2012.

    Specialist Tammy Krause, who would have served as a “liaison” between the defense and family members of the slain trooper, was the subject of sharp acrimony in the Holmes case after Colorado prosecutors alleged she misled victims to gather information for the defense, and offered to leak sensitive information while trying to line up opposition to the death penalty, according to news accounts.

    In the motion seeking that Brown be evaluated, attorneys indicated they plan to mount an insanity defense and are asking the court to appoint Dr. Sara Boyd, a clinical psychologist from Woodbridge, to evaluate him. Boyd previously assisted in evaluations to determine whether Brown was competent to stand trial.

    “There is probable cause to believe that Mr. Brown’s sanity will be a significant factor in his defense,” his attorneys wrote.

    Dinwiddie Commonwealth’s Attorney Ann Cabell Baskervill said she will not object to the sanity evaluation but will ask the court for a separate sanity evaluation of Brown by a different expert.

    In response to the request for grand jury data, Chappell said he has gathered the names of about 1,000 people who were randomly selected for the court’s master grand jury list during the five-year period, and an additional 420 names of people randomly selected from the master list to sit on grand juries during that time. Chappell said he cannot supply the races or genders of those people because the court did not acquire them, but the birth date of each person is available.

    Since grand juror information is sealed to protect their identities, the presiding judge, Paul W. Cella, will have to authorize their release, Chappell said. The judge has directed the defense to file a formal motion for the data and schedule a hearing if needed.

    Assistant Capital Defender Seth Shelley, the attorney who requested the data, did not respond to an email or phone message seeking comment on why the defense is seeking the data.

    Baskervill said the defense team could be setting up an argument about “our ultimate jury selection” when the case comes to trial. She said the prosecution and the defense must offer non-race, non-gender reasons for striking a person from serving on the jury, and “a defense challenge to juror strikes can carry a bit more weight if the defense can point to a pattern of bias or discrimination, and looking to grand jury statistics is one way to do that.”

    Cella already has denied the defense request for Krause’s appointment as a victim outreach specialist, who Brown’s attorneys said in court papers would be used as a “vital liaison between the defense and the victims’ families.” The attorneys said Krause would operate independently of the defense team and would not report “information, results, impressions, findings or conclusions” to the defense “unless members of the victims’ families agree.”

    Baskervill argued against the use of such an expert, saying it was not required to facilitate the case’s legal and constitutional requirements, among other reasons. Further, the trooper’s family “unequivocally and adamantly do not wish to work with, or avail themselves of any services of” any victim-outreach specialist sought by the defense, Baskervill said in court papers.

    Baskervill noted the “significant thread of acrimony” Krause’s involvement caused in the Holmes case, adding that “even assuming the best intentions, the Colorado experience forebodes trouble and unnecessary, undeserved pain if the defense request is granted here.”

    In rejecting Krause’s appointment, the judge said the defense team did not show a particularized need based on the facts of the case, nor did they demonstrate that information that might be obtained from the trooper’s family would be a significant factor in Brown’s defense.

    Brown is charged with eight felony counts, including capital murder of a police officer, in the March 7, 2013, killing of Walker, 63, who was shot in his police cruiser on Interstate 85 after the officer rolled up to Brown’s vehicle stopped on the shoulder to see if Brown needed any help.

    Police said that after shooting Walker with a Russian-made, .308-caliber semiautomatic rifle and exchanging gunfire with another trooper, Brown dropped his weapon and fled, disrobing as he ran. He was found hiding naked in the back of a car at a nearby towing company. After his arrest, Brown told authorities that God had directed him to shoot Walker.

    Brown’s trial has been set for four weeks beginning March 14.

    http://www.richmond.com/news/local/a...b633ff210.html
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  6. #26
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    Judge reluctantly delays murder trial for man charged with killing state trooper 3 years ago

    A Dinwiddie County judge reluctantly has granted a defense request to postpone the capital murder trial of Russell E. Brown III in the March 2013 killing of Virginia State Police trooper Junius A. Walker because of a delayed report that could potentially affect the trial’s outcome.

    Brown’s trial had been scheduled nearly a year ago and was to begin Monday in Dinwiddie Circuit Court. Judge Paul W. Cella had set aside 30 days for a jury to hear the case.

    But because Brown’s attorneys waited until 60 days before trial to notify the court of their intentions to present an insanity defense, which the law allows, the short notice delayed the completion of a report by the prosecution’s expert witness who evaluated Brown’s sanity at the time of the killing.

    The evaluation by Dr. Evan Nelson, a forensic psychologist, was still pending as of Wednesday.

    In his March 6 written order that continued the case, the judge expressed his frustration.

    “I have a dilemma,” Cella wrote. “I do not want to continue this case. On the other hand, I believe that under Virginia (law) the defense is entitled to Dr. Nelson’s report, and there is case law that is favorable to the defense.”

    “I must weigh ... case law in light of the fact that the defendant’s sanity at the time of the offense appears to be the most important issue in the guilt phase of trial. We are not dealing with peripheral evidentiary issues that might or might not affect the trial’s outcome. We are dealing with the crux of the case.”

    The judge said the problem lies with the way Virginia law is written, which says the defense does not have to notify the prosecution of an insanity defense until 60 days before trial, even if they were aware of their intention to do so six months earlier.

    Brown’s defense team, which includes attorneys Karin Kissiah, Seth T. Shelley and Shameka Hall of the Virginia Capital Defender’s Office, filed notice on Jan. 14 — precisely 60 days before trial — of their plans to introduce evidence that Brown is not guilty by reason of insanity.

    The 60-day rule “is highly likely to cause scheduling problems in terms of the (prosecution’s) evaluation of the defendant,” Cella wrote.

    “The (prosecution) is helpless to stop this dilatory and obstructionist behavior because of the (prosecution’s) right to have the defendant evaluated is not triggered until the defense files its notice,” the judge added. “As always, however, I must accept the Code as the General Assembly wrote it.”

    Therefore, Cella said he felt he had no choice but to continue the case. A new trial date was set for July 11 through Aug. 5.

    Until his March 6 order, Cella had previously rejected several other defense arguments for a trial continuance, but had left open the possibility of continuing it for the sole purpose of Nelson’s report.

    “I am not going to continue this case based on the defense’s general claims that it needs more time,” Cella wrote in a March 1 order. “....(T)he defense has had plenty of time. Nevertheless, I am concerned about the fact that Dr. Nelson’s report is not ready.”

    Cella also denied a defense request to move the trial to another locality because of extensive pre-trial publicity.

    “There is a presumption that a defendant can receive a fair trial in the jurisdiction in which the offense is alleged to have occurred, and the fact that a case has had extensive publicity does not necessarily mean that a defendant is entitled to a change of venue,” the judge wrote. “I am not prepared to move this case to a different jurisdiction without even attempting to seat a jury.”

    Brown, 31, is charged with six felony counts, including capital murder of a police officer, in the March 7, 2013, killing of Walker, 63, who was shot in his police cruiser on Interstate 85. Walker had rolled up to Brown’s vehicle, which was stopped on the shoulder, to see if Brown needed any help.

    Police said after shooting Walker with a Russian-made, .308-caliber semiautomatic rifle and exchanging gunfire with another trooper, Brown dropped his weapon and fled, disrobing as he ran. He was found hiding naked in the back of a car at a nearby towing company.

    After his arrest, Brown told authorities that God had directed him to shoot Walker. Brown was initially ruled mentally incompetent to stand trial but was restored to competency about a year later after a stay at Central State Hospital. The judge granted a defense request last year that allowed Brown to remain at Central State until his trial.

    “This continuance is frustrating and disappointing — as a prosecutor prepared for trial and on behalf of the Walker family, the law enforcement family and the entire community,” Dinwiddie Commonwealth’s Attorney Ann Cabell Baskerville said when asked about the delay. “Jurors, witnesses and court staff were ready for trial and ready to move forward.

    “And we will be ready and looking forward to trying the case and seeking justice come July.”

    http://www.richmond.com/news/article...32cab684a.html
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  7. #27
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    Attorneys for man accused of killing state trooper seek eligibility of convicted felons to serve on jury

    The defense team for the man accused of killing Virginia State Police trooper Junius A. Walker in Dinwiddie County three years ago wants felons whose rights were recently restored by the governor to be considered as eligible candidates for jury duty when Russell E. Brown III stands trial in July.

    In what may be the first case of its kind in Virginia since Gov. Terry McAuliffe issued a blanket order restoring the rights of 206,000 felons to vote and sit on juries, Brown’s capital murder attorneys have filed a motion in Dinwiddie Circuit Court seeking to unseal juror questionnaires sent last fall to a list of potential Dinwiddie jury candidates provided by the Virginia Supreme Court.

    “Mr. Brown is entitled to this juror information in light of the recent order by Gov. Terence R. McAuliffe restoring certain civil rights to felons and in order to prepare any Sixth Amendment fair cross-section constitutional challenge to the Dinwiddie County juror selection process,” the May 6 motion says.

    The responses to the Dinwiddie questionnaires that the defense seeks were reviewed by Dinwiddie jury commissioners for eligibility, and anyone who had a felony conviction and did not previously have their rights restored was excluded from serving on a jury there in 2016, Circuit Court Clerk John B. Chappell Jr. said Thursday.

    The juror questionnaires are not public record and are under seal. A court order is required to have them unsealed for review.

    The defense attorneys said in their motion that to sufficiently investigate whether felons have been previously excluded from the eligible pool of potential jurors, their client must have access to the juror questionnaires and the responses to those documents.

    The defense team said McAuliffe’s April 22 order now allows felons to serve on Dinwiddie juries, but newly eligible jurors in that county “were undoubtedly excluded during the eligibility process conducted by jury commissioners during their review of juror questionnaires.”

    “Absent review of the requested juror information, Mr. Brown will be unable to sufficiently investigate, prepare, and assert a constitutional challenge to the Dinwiddie County juror selection process,” the defense team said in its motion.

    “Consequently, without disclosure of the requested juror information, Mr. Brown will be denied his independent federal and state constitutional rights to due process, effective assistance of counsel, a fair and impartial jury, and against cruel and unusual punishment.”

    Chappell said Dinwiddie Circuit Judge Paul W. Cella has agreed to hear the motion, but a court date has not been set.

    Several attempts to reach Commonwealth’s Attorney Ann Cabell Baskervill for comment were unsuccessful.

    The Dinwiddie development has already begun to reverberate in state political circles.

    “We are just beginning to see the scope of the negative unintended consequences created by the governor’s executive order,” said Matthew Moran, spokesman for House Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford.

    “The speaker is gravely concerned about how the order could impact cases like this all around the commonwealth. The thought that someone who shot and killed a dedicated state trooper is using the executive order to avoid conviction has to be troubling to anyone who believes in justice.”

    McAuliffe spokesman Brian Coy said Virginia’s jury selection process remains unchanged and felons whose rights were restored who could end up in a jury pool won’t affect that.

    “Virginia has a jury selection process for a reason, and that is to screen potential jurors for any biases or conflicts of interests that might imperil the impartiality of a case,” Coy said.

    “That process is unchanged and that serves Virginia well. And the governor’s confident that judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys would continue to leverage that process just as they always have, to make sure the juries they’re selecting are impartial. None of that has changed.”

    “There are extra hurdles to clear before an individual would end up actually being in a position that these folks are concerned about,” Coy added.

    “And that is, they would have to pass several steps in addition to simply being selected (for inclusion into a jury pool). They would have to get through a defense attorney, or the prosecutor and a judge. So I think that is a usual safeguard not only in this case but in every case.”

    But Del. Jackson H. Miller, R-Manassas, sees the Dinwiddie development as the start of things to come.

    “It just goes to show that we have a governor that bases decisions solely for partisan political purposes and not what’s right or what consequences could happen to Virginia,” said Miller, who formerly served as a police officer in Arlington and Prince William counties.

    “We’re starting to see things like this, (and) now we can only pray the common sense of the court system prevails, and tosses this request right out,” Miller added.

    “But after what the governor did, maybe they won’t be able to. This is obviously a slap in the face to law enforcement all the way across the commonwealth.”

    Republican leaders in the General Assembly have threatened to file suit challenging McAuliffe’s legal and constitutional authority to issue a blanket order restoring felons’ rights.

    Charles J. Cooper, a former assistant attorney general under President Ronald Reagan who once was named “Republican lawyer of the year,” has been hired to lead the challenge to the governor’s order.

    A.E. Dick Howard, a professor at the University of Virginia School of Law who is widely considered the top expert on the Virginia Constitution, has backed McAuliffe and says the executive branch has unqualified authority on the matter.

    Brown, 31, is charged with six felony counts, including capital murder of a police officer, in the March 7, 2013, slaying of Walker, 63. The trooper was shot in his police cruiser on Interstate 85. Walker had rolled up to Brown’s vehicle, which was stopped on the shoulder, to see if Brown needed any help.

    Police said that after shooting Walker with a Russian-made .308-caliber semiautomatic rifle and exchanging fire with another trooper, Brown dropped his weapon and fled, disrobing as he ran. He was found hiding naked in the back of a car at a nearby towing company.

    Brown’s defense team includes Karin Kissiah, Seth Shelley and Shameka Hall of the Virginia Capital Defender’s Office, along with Jacqueline Reiner, who is in private practice.

    Cella reluctantly granted a defense motion earlier this year to postpone the trial, originally set to begin March 14, because of a delayed report that could potentially affect the outcome. If the new defense motion doesn’t cause a further delay, the trial will begin July 11 and could last through Aug. 5.

    Brown’s attorneys in January filed notice of their intent to introduce evidence that Brown is not guilty by reason of insanity.

    http://www.richmond.com/news/local/c...66242cd94.html
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  8. #28
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    Dinwiddie, Augusta judges reject requests seeking felons' eligibility to serve on juries per McAuliffe's order

    A Dinwiddie County judge has rejected a defense team’s request to reopen the jury selection process in a bid to allow felons whose rights were recently restored by the governor to be considered as eligible candidates for jury duty in the trial of man charged with killing a state trooper.

    That decision comes as a judge in Augusta County this week denied a similar request in an opinion that calls into question Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s executive order as it applies to restoring the rights of felons to sit on juries or hold public office.

    In a two-page letter filed Wednesday, Dinwiddie Circuit Judge Paul W. Cella said McAuliffe’s April 22 blanket order restoring the rights of 206,000 felons to vote, serve on juries and hold public office was “irrelevant” in the capital murder case of Russell E. Brown III, who is scheduled to stand trial this summer in the March 7, 2013, slaying of trooper Junius A. Walker.

    The judge noted that public defender Karin Kissiah “conceded” during a hearing Friday in Dinwiddie Circuit Court that McAuliffe’s order was not retroactive to when Dinwiddie juror commissioners last fall established the county’s jury pool for 2016.

    Citing the governor’s recent restoration order, defense attorneys sought to unseal Dinwiddie juror questionnaires sent last fall to a list of potential Dinwiddie juror candidates to determine whether any felons were “excluded during the eligibility process.”

    The attorneys said that felons were “undoubtedly excluded” and that McAuliffe’s order now allows those who were previously disenfranchised to serve on Dinwiddie juries.

    Dinwiddie Circuit Court Clerk John B. Chappell Jr. previously acknowledged that anyone who had a felony conviction and did not previously have their rights restored when county juror commissioners compiled the list of eligible candidates last year was excluded.

    “The juror questionnaires for our case were in accordance with the law that applied at the time that they were done,” the judge wrote. “Since Governor McAuliffe’s order of April 22, 2016, was not retroactive, it simply does not apply to our case. In other words, it is irrelevant.”

    Dinwiddie prosecutors Ann Cabell Baskervill and Nelson H.C. Fisher made similar statements in written motions and oral arguments, saying the governor’s restoration order was a “red herring” and irrelevant in the Brown case.

    The prosecutors said it was significant that Brown’s legal team made no allegation that the juror questionnaires it sought “were at all invalid under the law and status that existed at the time such questionnaires were compiled.”

    The prosecutors added that McAuliffe’s blanket restoration order was an action taken subsequent to a particular stage in Brown’s case that had already occurred, and “it does not and cannot change that particular stage in the case” retroactively.

    A circuit judge in Augusta this week denied a similar request from a defense attorney representing a man scheduled to be tried Friday on sexual assault charges involving an underage victim.

    As in the Brown case, Staunton attorney Humes J. Franklin filed a motion seeking access to last year’s Augusta juror questionnaires and the responses to those documents. He made the motion May 26, just 11 days before trial.

    Noting the last-minute nature of the request, Judge Victor L. Ludwig denied the motion in a hurriedly written eight-page opinion dated Monday that appears to question the governor’s constitutional authority to restore a felon’s right to sit on a jury.

    “Time does not permit me fully to address the issue of constitutionality of the order, although given the sweeping language of Article V, Section 12 of the Constitution of Virginia, I do not see much limitation on the governor’s power,” Ludwig wrote. “Still, the order is not as clear as one might hope, so, considerations of constitutionality aside, its effect, application and implementation are questionable.”

    Ludwig wrote that although McAuliffe purports to act under broad authorities granted to governors by the Virginia Constitution, what McAuliffe has done is remove all political disabilities upon conviction of a felony imposed by Article II, Section 1 of the Virginia Constitution. With no further expansion of the scope of the removal of political disabilities, Ludwig continued, the governor also purportedly ‘restored (to them) ... the right to serve on a jury.’ ”

    “It is, at best, an ambiguous pronouncement,” Ludwig wrote. “The governor conflates his power to restore civil rights with his authority to remove political disabilities, apparently assuming that they are the same thing. In the order, the governor removed the disabilities (using the plural) imposed by Article II, Section I of the Virginia Constitution.”

    “But that section of the constitution addresses only the (singular) right to vote, and the language of the section does not impose a disability; it restricts a right,” the judge added. “If the only political disabilities removed by the order are those imposed by Article II, Section 1, one must inquire how that limited cure restores the right to hold public office, the right to serve on a jury or the right to act as a notary public — none of which is impacted (much less removed) by Article II, Section I, and not all of which can properly be characterized as ‘rights.’ “

    Ludwig said the “entire thrust” of McAuliffe’s restoration of rights order “runs solely to the restoration of felons’ right to vote.”

    Ludwig said the right to vote is clearly a civil right, and is recognized as such in the Virginia Constitution. What is not clear is whether serving on a jury is a civil right, the judge added, because it is not found to be a protected right in the state constitution.

    “Indeed, I find no binding, precedential authority which recognizes any constitutionally protected right to serve on a jury,” the judge wrote. “But, if a state, like the commonwealth, elects to incorporate juries into its criminal justice system, it must guarantee the constitutional rights of potential jurors.”

    http://www.richmond.com/news/local/a...100a0c64f.html
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  9. #29
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    Dinwiddie jury nearly seated in trooper slaying case; defense seeks new delay

    A court-designated jury pool of 28 people finally was reached Monday after a grueling, one-on-one selection process that spanned six days in the capital murder trial of a man accused of fatally shooting a Virginia State Police trooper three years ago off Interstate 85.

    But Russell E. Brown III’s capital defense team remains unsatisfied, drafting a last-minute motion that seeks to move the trial to another jurisdiction because “publicity surrounding the defendant’s cases is so extensive and inherently prejudicial that the trial proceedings should be deemed tainted,” says the draft motion, which may be argued today in Dinwiddie Circuit Court.

    “As evidenced by the jury selection process thus far, there has not been a resident of Dinwiddie County unfamiliar with the defendant or unaffected by the present case,” Brown’s lawyers argued. “It is unreasonable to believe that a jury in this case could set aside any prejudices held or knowledge regarding the case when so many of them come to the venire with information and exposure to the case.

    “In the present case, the size of the community and the financial, emotional, and familial ties to any potential juror to the crime or to Trooper (Junius A.) Walker raises a presumption that prior impressions and opinions pertaining to the defendant, victims or this case cannot be set aside,” the motion adds. “If proceeding with the selected venire, Mr. Brown will have a jury with a constitutionally unacceptable body of knowledge — individually and cumulatively — about charges, the victim, community opinion regarding the offense, and relationships with the parties in the case.”

    The defense team drafted the motion over the weekend and before the court on Monday qualified four more prospective jurors out of 16 queried to finalize the pool of 28 jurors needed to proceed. Twelve people were disqualified Monday, along with 54 last week, because of concerns of potential bias or impartiality against the defendant.

    The examination process began July 18 and crept along for six days, largely because of the volume of questions posed to each individual prospective juror by Brown’s defense team. Some were queried last week for 45 minutes or longer.

    It seemed apparent that Dinwiddie Circuit Judge Paul W. Cella gave Brown’s four attorneys significant latitude in the types of questions they asked and time that they took to query the candidates.

    The court started with a jury pool of 196 people, and five groups of 20 were questioned last week. Prosecutors and defense attorneys were working on a sixth group Monday when the 28th person was approved about 3:15 p.m. and court was adjourned for the day.

    Unless the defense motion derails the trial — which seems unlikely — the prosecution and defense will return this morning and make six peremptory strikes each to reduce the pool of 28 to the final 16 jurors. Four of those will serve as alternates.

    Cella advised both sides that opening remarks would then commence and testimony could begin.

    The court endeavored to strike, on motions from the defense, any prospective jurors who said they had prejudged Brown guilty based on what they had heard, seen or read about the case. The court also dismissed those who said they had a bias in favor of police because relatives served in law enforcement, along with any prospective juror who indicated they could not consider Brown’s insanity defense or find him not guilty on that basis.

    In the months leading to the trial, the defense twice before asked the court to have Brown’s trial moved to another jurisdiction but were rebuffed both times. The judge previously has said every effort should be made to seat a jury in Dinwiddie before considering such a proposal.

    In their new motion, defense attorneys noted that of the 100 prospective jurors questioned last week, 91 percent were aware of pretrial publicity and knew about the case. Of the 54 people dismissed for cause last week, 44 of them “indicated a lack of impartiality,” the attorneys said.

    “Of the 90 jurors interviewed, 49 percent indicated they could not be impartial, had a fixed opinion that Mr. Brown was guilty, and/or had pre-formed opinions about the case which they could (not) set aside,” they wrote.

    The defense team also noted that any jurors coming to and from the courthouse via I-85 “inevitably travel on the first ever portion of the interstate named after a Virginia State Trooper (and) dedicated to Trooper Walker.” Likewise, jurors traveling away from the courthouse heading southbound pass by a roadside memorial dedicated to the slain trooper.

    Defense attorneys also highlighted — for the second time in a week — the recent attacks on police in other parts of the country, including the fatal shootings of five officers in Dallas and the Sunday slayings of three officers in Baton Rouge, La. The judge already has denied a defense request to delay the trial because of the Dallas killings, saying it was irrelevant and inflammatory to Brown’s case.

    The defense believes the targeted killings of police may have poisoned public opinion against their client.

    “Because of the tragedy in Dallas, each day each juror arrives at the courthouse they pass by the American flag, the flag of Virginia and the County of Dinwiddie flag all flying at half-staff in honor of fallen officers,” the defense team wrote. “On arrival in the courtroom, the jurors are confronted with uniformed officers from the Dinwiddie Sheriff’s Department, many of them honoring the Dallas officers by wearing black bands around their badges.”

    http://www.richmond.com/news/local/a...dcba9705e.html
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  10. #30
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    Suspect in 2013 slaying of Virginia State Police trooper enters insanity plea

    After years of waiting, opening statements were heard Tuesday in the capital murder trial for Russell E. Brown, the man accused of killing Virginia State Police trooper Junius Walker in 2013.

    Prosecutors said Brown was smoking marijuana with a rifle when his car broke down on I-85 in Dinwiddie County, moments before trooper Walker arrived on scene to see if Walker was OK.

    Dinwiddie County Commonwealth’s Attorney Nelson Fisher said trooper Walker couldn’t even roll down his window to ask if everything was alright before Brown began firing into his car. Walker was able to drive his car into the woods off the shoulder of I-85 where his car caught fire.

    Brown eventually caught up to Walker, shooting him several times from the passenger side of Walker’s car. Using a .308 caliber semi-automatic rifle, Brown also fired at Thomas Hales, a truck driver who stopped when he noticed trooper Walker’s car in the woods, as well as another trooper who responded to the scene before taking off his clothes and running into the woods.

    Another set of troopers went down to Walker’s car to recover his body from the burning vehicle.

    Brown’s defense team says there’s no argument that Brown killed Walker, although they plan to enter an insanity plea, saying Brown was out of his mind at the time of the shooting. According to the defense, Brown showed signs of mental illness that January, just two months prior to killing trooper Walker. They say he was consumed with this being the apocalypse and believed God chose him to prepare for the end of days.

    According to the defense, Brown had insomnia the night before killing trooper Walker and had passed out for an hour before heading down I-85. Brown said he believed killing trooper Walker was a test. He also believed that by stripping down in the woods, God would make him invisible.

    When Brown was finally arrested, he was reportedly talking non-stop, saying things like, “do you believe in deja vu?’ and ‘it ain’t never too late, but first I gotta break bread.”

    The trial will resume at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.

    http://wric.com/2016/07/19/suspect-i...insanity-plea/
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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