Category Archives: Courts and law

Governor’s Chronic Absenteeism Task Force – Part Three – Vital New State Roles

Posted on December 7, 2023 by | 11 comments

By James C. Sherlock

A compilation from https://www.doe.virginia.gov/data-policy-funding/data-reports/data-collection/special-education

I have found in 18 years of reporting on education in the Commonwealth that each school, each school division and each region is to some degree its own ecosystem.

Taking the example of chronic absenteeism, an individualized assessment of causes could be attempted:

  • if a single school‘s chronic absenteeism can be adjusted statistically for differences in its demographics (race, ethnicity, economic status, English learners, IEPs, etc.) to its division norms, and
  • if that school is a statistical outlier from its division good or bad.

But those are very big if’s because of the complex algorithm that would be required for comparing.  And the results would apply only to that specific school.

I have sometimes compared divisions‘ statistical performances on absenteeism and SOL pass rates against state norms, but usually at the extremes.  There are too many variables to sort among the bulk of them.  At the division level, the variables are as great as at the school level.

Regional differences are there, but causes are hard to pin down beyond differences in demographics and cultures.

That said, and to some degree for that reason, I offer two new state roles for improving school attendance:

  1. marketing, which is either not now done at all or done ineffectively, to increase parents understanding of the value of school; and
  2. investigations and enforcement, which are done sporadically across the state.  That is because of both the time and expertise investigations take and current laws that require schools to involve the court system in enforcement.

Those recommendations are not budget neutral.  This is a budget year.  They are tailored to draw Democratic support.  The time for them is now.

Given the time necessary to prepare proposals, it will likely take a special session to address them.

The chronic absenteeism crisis, appropriately designated by the Governor, rates one.

Continue reading →

11 Comments

Posted in Attendance, Budgets, Change Management, Courts and law, Crime , corrections and law enforcement, Demographics, Education (K-12), General Assembly, Governance

Slasher Ordered to Reimburse Medical Bills of his Victim

Posted on December 4, 2023 by | 21 comments

by Kerry Dougherty

Several things strike me about this crime and restitution story out of Patrick County.

First, after Larry Puckett nearly stabbed Justin Hawkes to death in the fall of 2019, Mr. Hawkes  incurred about $120,000 in medical bills.

Because the injured man was indigent, Medicaid stepped in and negotiated the price down to $22,000.

If this former English major’s math is correct that’s just under 20% of the original bill.

Does this suggest there’s some padding in medical bills? You bet it does. In fact, receiving any medical procedure is a lot like buying an airline ticket. Everyone on the flight pays a different amount for the privilege of squeezing into a tiny seat and arriving at the exact time. Some folks spent a fortune for their tickets. Others got a cut-rate price.

Same goes for medical bills, although many of those are accompanied by an emergency that leaves no time to shop around for a better price.

Face it, medical care is a racket. Dare to ask why that Tylenol they gave you in the hospital cost 15 bucks and you’ll get a verbal tsunami of indignation and gibberish. Just pay it, they say. You have insurance.

In this case, according to the Virginia Mercury, the judge ordered Larry Puckett to repay Medicaid for the injuries he inflicted on Mr. Hawkes once he completed his prison sentence:

Puckett was convicted by Patrick Circuit Court of malicious wounding. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, with eight years suspended, and ordered to complete five years of probation and pay … the cost of the medical services as restitution. The restitution was to be paid in $50 increments each month following his release from prison.

I like it! Continue reading →

21 Comments

Posted in Courts and law, Crime , corrections and law enforcement, Health Care, Law enforcement

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Charlottesville, Its Public Schools and UVa – Part Three – CCS Abandons Truancy Filings, Absenteeism Soars

Posted on November 30, 2023 by | 132 comments

Courtesy of wallpaper.com

by James C. Sherlock

The effects of public policies can be murky.

Not this one.

The subject in this Part 3 is alarming chronic absenteeism of Charlottesville City Schools (CCS).  

At issue is the virtual abandonment by that division of the use truancy filings with the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, removing parental consequences.  

That change has been accompanied by enormous increases in absenteeism and everything, all bad, that comes with it.

The numbers are stark. Continue reading →

132 Comments

Posted in Attendance, Children and families, Civil Rights, Courts and law, DEI, Discipline and disorder, Education (K-12)

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Will the Public Ever Get to See the Mass-Shooting Report?

Posted on November 20, 2023 by | 38 comments

Christopher Darnell Jones Jr.

by James A. Bacon

The University of Virginia will delay the release of an external investigation into the Nov. 13, 2022, mass shooting that resulted in three deaths and two woundings until after the trial of Christopher Jones, the UVa student charged with the crime.

“After conferring with counselors and Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Hingeley, we have decided that we need to wait until after the criminal proceedings to release further information,” President James Ryan said in a statement appearing Friday on UVa Today. “Making the reports public at this time, or even releasing a summary of their findings and recommendations, could have an impact on the criminal trial of the accused, either by disrupting the case being prepared by the Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney, or by interfering with the defendant’s right to a fair trial before an impartial jury.”

Rector Robert Hardie supported the delay. Speaking for the Board of Visitors, he said, “We agree that we should postpone the release of further information until the criminal prosecution is complete to avoid interfering with or complicating the proceedings.”

“This development is disappointing,” responded Tom Neale, president of The Jefferson Council. “The quintuple shooting is one of the most traumatic events to ever occur at UVa, and the university community has a right to know what went wrong. What assurance do we have that the actions the University has taken to improve safety actually address the problems identified in the report? How do we know a similar breakdown won’t occur again?” Continue reading →

38 Comments

Posted in Courts and law, Education (higher ed), Transparency

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The Suppressed Report on the UVa Murders

Posted on November 20, 2023 by | 41 comments

UVa Shooting Suspect Mug Shot

by James C. Sherlock

President James Ryan of the University of Virginia has decided to suppress the results of a written request that he and the Rector made to the Attorney General

…to conduct an independent review of the University’s response to the shooting, as well as the efforts the University undertook in the period before the tragedy to assess the potential threat Mr. Jones posed to our community.

The Attorney General’s administrative investigation is complete. President Ryan published a statement:

Making the report public at this time, or even releasing a summary of their findings and recommendations, could have an impact on the criminal trial of the accused, either by disrupting the case being prepared by the Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney, or by interfering with the defendant’s right to a fair trial before an impartial jury. [Emphasis added.]

The press reports indicate that announcement drew criticism.

I will add to it. Continue reading →

41 Comments

Posted in Courts and law, Crime , corrections and law enforcement, DEI, Education (higher ed)

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Bari Weiss: “You are the Last Line of Defense”

Posted on November 19, 2023 by | 3 comments

by James C. Sherlock

Video courtesy of the Free Press.  See that link for a full transcript.  I recommend it to everyone.

Bari Weiss recently delivered a speech that will be long remembered.

She offered eloquence in the service of experience, sorrow and determination.  And defined the internal, and existential, threat to America.

I will share with you below short slices of the transcript.

She spoke to the Federalist Society about college radicalism turned antisemitism.  But not just antisemitism.

It is a radicalism that turns with threats, career assassinations and even violence on everything outside its very narrow, “intersectional” acceptance zone.  It is – proudly – a threat to America’s security and the western civilization it hates.

She would not have been welcome at some of Virginia’s most prestigious public IHEs.

And all of us know it. Continue reading →

3 Comments

Posted in Civil Rights, Courts and law, Culture wars, DEI, Democracy and Western Civilization, Education (higher ed), Education (K-12), Excellence and grace, First Amendment, Freedom, Law enforcement, Marxism

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Democrats, Judges, and Higher Taxes

Posted on November 6, 2023 by | 2 comments

from Liberty Unyielding 

For generations, Washington State had no state income tax, because of anti-income tax provisions in its state constitution. But the Washington state supreme court recently upheld a classic example of an income tax — a state tax on income from capital gains — by making the absurd argument that a capital gains tax is an “excise tax,” not an income tax. That was nonsense. The IRS and all other states deem capital-gains taxes to be income taxes, because they are levied on the amount of income you make from selling an asset, such as shares of stock or the sale of your home. The state supreme court could not deny this, and seems to have been motivated by racial, rather than legal, considerations, in reaching its ruling. It claimed that Washington’s traditional tax system “perpetuates systemic racism by placing a disproportionate tax burden on BIPOC residents,” who pay a higher fraction of sales taxes than of income or capital gains taxes.

As broadcaster Jason Rantz notes, the state supreme court’s opinion “doesn’t read like a Court decision, but a press release from a pro-tax, anti-capitalist Seattle activist group. But that’s what the Washington State Supreme Court has become.” The state supreme court’s 7-to-2 ruling is in tension with the fact that, as the tax consulting firm RSM notes, “the IRS defines capital gains as income and the Washington capital gains tax relies on federal income tax reporting.”

If other state supreme courts similarly redefine income taxes as excise taxes, that could weaken tax limits contained in other states’ laws, such as Virginia law’s ban on income taxes levied by cities and counties. This Tuesday, Virginia is holding legislative elections. Virginia’s legislature picks the state’s judges, and Democrats are slightly favored to take control of the state legislature. When they last controlled the Virginia legislature, the Democrats expanded and packed the Virginia Court of Appeals. But the Virginia supreme court currently is split 4-to-3 in favor of Republicans. Residents of northern Virginia pay 3.2% less of their income in taxes than residents of neighboring counties in Maryland, because Maryland permits county income taxes, and Virginia doesn’t.

If Democrats win the Virginia elections Tuesday, they could pick judges who uphold taxes at odds with the state constitution. Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in Courts and law, Elections, General Assembly, Taxes

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Judge Issues Surprise Marijuana Ruling

Posted on November 2, 2023 by | 5 comments

from The Republican Standard

A federal judge in Northern Virginia rejected an attempt to block a new Virginia law that imposes stricter limits on hemp products containing intoxicating amounts of THC. The law aimed to crack down on delta-8, a hemp-derived marijuana alternative. The judge ruled that Virginia’s regulations do not conflict with federal law and serve the public interest in protecting citizens, especially children, from substances like delta-8, indicating a challenging road ahead for the hemp industry in opposing the new law. Continue reading →

5 Comments

Posted in Courts and law

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Democratic General Assembly Would Be Much Softer on Crime

Posted on November 1, 2023 by | 10 comments

from Liberty Unyielding 

Democrats are slightly favored to win control of Virginia’s legislature in this year’s election, although the election will be very close. If they take over, the legislature will become much softer on crime than it is now, because incoming Democratic leaders are more left-wing than their mainstream liberal predecessors. For example, if Democrats win control of the House of Delegates, the speaker of the House will be Democratic leader Don Scott, a convicted felon, not his mainstream liberal predecessor, Eileen Filler-Corn.

Back in 2020, Don Scott proposed radical legislation that would release dangerous criminals from prison, even if prison and parole officials had proof of their continuing danger to society. It failed to pass back then, because Scott was a junior legislator, and Democrats were more mainstream liberal, and less left-wing, than they are now. The only moderate Democrats in the Virginia legislature are either retiring — such as state Senator Lynwood Lewis — or were defeated in the Spring 2023 Democratic primary. Some mainstream liberals are also leaving the legislature. George Barker was defeated in a primary by a candidate to his left, and Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw is retiring.

Scott’s legislation in 2020 was very bad, and at odds with public safety. If he becomes House Speaker, he might be able to use his power to get his fellow Democrats to pass it. Then, he could hold Republican Governor Youngkin’s priorities hostage unless Youngkin allows such legislation to become law. For example, Scott could get Democrats to block the governor’s appointments. The Virginia Senate only approved Governor Youngkin’s appointment of Bert Ellis to the University of Virginia Board of Visitors because the Senate’s two moderate Democrats voted along with Republicans to confirm him. Both of those Democrats are leaving the legislature after this year. The House of Delegates can also block appointments to many posts in Virginia. Continue reading →

10 Comments

Posted in Courts and law, Crime , corrections and law enforcement, Elections, General Assembly

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Crime and Punishment in Charlottesville

Posted on October 25, 2023 by | 109 comments

by James C. Sherlock

UVa and Harvard are the two campuses most often cited by the national and world press as homes to the worst actors after October 7.

It is easy work.

I posted a column on Saturday making a series of recommendations for actions by the University of Virginia to protect its Jewish community and rid itself of those that threaten it.

That was my response to the infamous support of UVa-funded organizations for the slaughter of innocents in Israel by Hamas, a group designated by the United States as a terrorist organization.

Kill Jews “by any means necessary” they wrote.

Read the column.  I named them.

Now I have been told by the Executive Director of Hillel at UVa, Rabbi Jake Rubin, that the President’s office and law enforcement “have been incredibly responsive, helpful, and present during this difficult time.”

Good start, and Virginians thank them for it, but it does not answer the questions about enforcement of state and federal laws.

So, there is more to do. Continue reading →

109 Comments

Posted in Civil Rights, Courts and law, Crime , corrections and law enforcement, Culture wars, DEI, Education (higher ed), Education (K-12)

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No Parole for Killers, No Matter How Old

Posted on October 18, 2023 by | 18 comments

by Kerry Doherty

Autumn, with its crisp temperatures, pumpkin spice and vibrant colors, seems to be everyone’s favorite season.

Not Paige O’Shaughnessy’s.

In fact, each year when the season changes she’s reminded of the hellish fall of 2000. That was the year her husband, Timothy O’Shaughnessy, 40, was murdered in his downtown Norfolk office.

It was Tuesday, November 7, when he was killed by an unhinged former employee bearing a grudge, a golf club and a gun.

Paige O’Shaughnessy was left alone to raise their four sons, ages 9 months, 2 1/2 years old, 4 1/2 years old and six.

The killer was stockbroker Joseph Ludlam. He beat the man who’d fired him from his job five weeks earlier and when the golf club broke, he stabbed O’Shaughnessy with the shaft and then shot him. Twice.

Ludlam stole O’Shaughnessy’s wallet, car keys and car and sped to his parents’ house in South Carolina where he holed up for 18 hours. He was finally arrested and charged with capital murder.

After numerous delays, Ludlam’s murder trial was finally set. But on Columbus Day of 2002 then-Commonwealth’s Attorney for Norfolk, Jack Doyle (now a retired circuit court judge), contacted the widow and said Ludlam had agreed to plead guilty to first degree murder and the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony in return for a prison term of no more than 40 years.

She’d be spared the ordeal of a trial, the state would be spared the expense and the murderer would be locked up for a very long time.

Mrs. O’Shaughnessy recalls the prosecutor reassuring her that, “He’ll be an old man when he gets out.”

“This gives us an assured conviction, and he waives his rights to appeal,” Doyle told The Daily Press at the time. “Forty years is virtually a life sentence.”

Not exactly.

There was one factor no one mentioned: geriatric parole. Continue reading →

18 Comments

Posted in Courts and law, Crime , corrections and law enforcement

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A Day in Court

Posted on October 11, 2023 by | 15 comments

Henrico County Courthouse

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

I spent some time today observing proceedings in Henrico County District Court. (No, I was not a defendant.) I recommend the experience to anyone interested in seeing how the criminal justice system works in real life.

District court is the venue for hearing traffic offenses and misdemeanors. It also hears more serious cases for probable cause to be sent to circuit court.

I sat in on two different courtrooms. The atmosphere in both was somewhat reminiscent of that depicted in the old TV series, Night Court. The Henrico judges, of course, were not as unorthodox as Judge Harry Anderson in that series nor were there the slapstick and irreverent humor prevalent there. However, there was an informal feeling with lots of friendly interaction among the defense attorneys, prosecutors, police, and judges. The judges were respectful and, sometimes, friendly toward the defendants, while at the same time admonishing them for their misdeeds. Continue reading →

15 Comments

Posted in Courts and law, Crime , corrections and law enforcement, Virginia Law

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Sex, Lies and Virginia Law: The Susanna Gibson Case

Posted on September 12, 2023 by | 78 comments

Susanna Gibson, Democratic nominee for the 57th District seat in the Virginia House of Delegates.

Republished with permission from the Liberty Unyielding blog.

“Susanna Gibson, a House candidate in Virginia, had sex with her husband in live videos posted online and asked viewers to pay them money in return,” notes USA Today. A recent video shows the Democratic candidate for Virginia’s House of Delegates doing sex acts. She allegedly also had sex with other people, not just her husband. Continue reading →

78 Comments

Posted in Courts and law, General Assembly, Politics

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Virginia Deserves a Parole Board that Puts Public Safety First

Posted on September 5, 2023 by | 26 comments

Patricia West

by Kerry Dougherty

When Terry McAuliffe was governor he found a loyal Democrat lawyer to appoint to head Virginia’s parole board.

That was Adrianne Bennett, a failed candidate for the House of Delegates in 2011 and undoubtedly the most controversial parole board chair in Virginia history. She was a success if you believe, as McAuliffe apparently did, that the job of that board is to spring murderers and make Virginians less safe. Continue reading →

26 Comments

Posted in Civil Rights, Courts and law, Crime , corrections and law enforcement, Governance, Law enforcement, Politics, Public safety & health

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Be Careful of What You Wish For

Posted on August 27, 2023 by | 73 comments

Supreme Court of Virginia

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

For those on this blog who advocate the election of judges in Virginia, The Washington Post today has an article that should give you second thoughts.  Courts cannot be isolated completely from partisanship, but it should be distressing for anyone, regardless of one’s partisan leanings, that a state supreme court, such as the one in Wisconsin described in the article, should be so politicized.  (Of course, the politicization has been there a long time.  The recent election and Democratic takeover just emphasizes it.)  Virginians should be grateful to have a judicial system that is shielded to a great extent from overt partisanship.

73 Comments

Posted in Courts and law, Culture wars