Repeater
Regular Member
When McAwful, by the stroke of his pen, restored the rights of all ex-felons, there would be consequences. But this?
Who knew?
Attorneys for man accused of killing state trooper seek eligibility of convicted felons to serve on jury
Who knew?
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.
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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.”
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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.