Comments on: Jones Sentenced

By: Dave Briggman

Dave Briggman — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 18:42:24 +0000

Lowell, it should likely be examined the explosive growth in the size of some of the Constitutional offices, the nepotism or large families employed in some of the other offices.

In fact, I believe the City and County would do well to relegate the Sheriff’s Department to maintaining the jails and the courts, and create a Rockingham County Police Department where local government can control law enforcement manning levels out the County, perhaps including consolidation with the Harrisonburg Police Department.

I have to tell you, being from Arlington, I believe that, per capita, we have a huge amount of cops here….lawyers, too.

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By: Lowell Fulk

Lowell Fulk — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 03:40:57 +0000

And what do you believe those cuts in personnel will mean to the performance of duty and service?

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By: republitarian

republitarian — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 01:49:20 +0000

I’d imagine we’re going to see personnel cuts in those offices……

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By: Lowell Fulk

Lowell Fulk — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 23:59:51 +0000

Have any of you looked at the proposed budget cuts to our already underfunded Commonwealth Attorney, Clerk of Court, and Sheriff’s Department? And these cuts are proposed with a tax increase to reduce their depth… Now we have a Governor who has promised not to raise taxes, how much more will these departments of our Judiciary System have their budgets reduced?

Every Sheriff, Clerk, and Commonwealth’s Attorney must also be very mindful that theirs is a finite budget. They must, just as they always have, make decisions based on priority of importance.

At the end of the day, all of these good public servants will be forced to make the call: Is this case worth the effort and resources necessary to prosecute, or even investigate?

We’re talking about paid hours of people’s time and expertise, and in the case of a jury trail, the payment (abysmal as it may be) of jurors…

Marcia Garst is a fine Commonwealth’s Attorney, and she will be forced to decide which cases to pursue, when to make a deal, and which ones to let go.

Same with Don Farley as Sheriff. How many officers can he dedicate? How many cells are available and affordable for him to use to incarcerate?

Chaz Haywood must provide the courtroom and personnel for any and every trial. The rest of the Clerk’s services will by necessity, be cut short.

There is a cost of doing business. There is a limit to what can be done, based on available funding. Like it or not…

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By: eso

eso — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 20:23:45 +0000

In a former life I use to run a lot. Not marathon levels, but up to ~15 mile runs. I always ran facing traffic, with bright, reflective gear. I would never run in the road unless I was someplace where I could see approaching traffic for maybe a mile or more.
Please, I’m not saying she deserved it. My extended family knew her and I know she was a great person. It is possible to be hit no matter what precautions you take. I had a few close calls. But I know I wouldn’t be jogging in the manner the other posters described. That’s all I can say.

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By: Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 20:22:33 +0000

Thanks to all those who have provided helpful clarification about the legal matters and plea bargaining – much appreciated.

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By: eso

eso — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 20:05:48 +0000

Sarah, Renee: My recollection is she they tracked down Jones several hours later. Since she wasn’t stopped drunk behind the wheel I don’t think she could be legally charged with with DUI ( was she 0.08 BAC above or maybe at that second she was 0.07 ). Maybe her confession was enough to change that or she could have chosen to plead guilty to that.
I’m not saying she that I think she was innocent, just that that’s the way I’ve remembered past cases with similar accusations turning out.

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By: seth

seth — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:11:16 +0000

thanks cook

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By: cook

cook — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 14:07:21 +0000

Seth,

I was not present in court in October when the prosecutor presented the plea agreement to the judge for his approval. Normally such an explanation is given on the record in open court, especially where it is the most serious charge that is being dismissed. Briefly looking at the DNR and WHSV reports of that hearing, no such explanation is reported. The DNR article does include this statement, “Jones’ defense team approached Commonwealth’s Attorney Marsha Garst with the proposed plea deal. Garst then took that deal to the Anderson family, which gave its blessing.”

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