Category: Courts and law
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A Nice Story Turns Out Not to be Such a Nice Story After All
by Dick Hall-Sizemore A recent podcast produced by VPM, Richmond’s public radio station, is both fascinating and disheartening. Admissible: Shreds of Evidence deals with the early days of the use of DNA as forensic evidence. In particular, it is the story of Mary Jane Burton, a long-time serologist for what is now called the Department…
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Virginia Bill Could Define Student Bullies by Race
by Hans Bader Should students be defined as bullies partly based on race? A confusingly-worded bill just introduced in Virginia’s legislature seemingly classifies students as bullies partly based on racial differences between “the aggressor” and the victim, such as a “real or perceived power imbalance between the aggressor or aggressors and victim, including on the…
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Governor’s Chronic Absenteeism Task Force – Part Three – Vital New State Roles
By James C. Sherlock 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…
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Slasher Ordered to Reimburse Medical Bills of his Victim
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…
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Charlottesville, Its Public Schools and UVa – Part Three – CCS Abandons Truancy Filings, Absenteeism Soars
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. …
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Will the Public Ever Get to See the Mass-Shooting Report?
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…
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The Suppressed Report on the UVa Murders
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…
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Bari Weiss: “You are the Last Line of Defense”
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…
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Democrats, Judges, and Higher Taxes
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…
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Judge Issues Surprise Marijuana Ruling
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…
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Democratic General Assembly Would Be Much Softer on Crime
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…
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Crime and Punishment in Charlottesville
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…
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No Parole for Killers, No Matter How Old
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…
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A Day in Court
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…
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Sex, Lies and Virginia Law: The Susanna Gibson Case
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…