GLOUCESTER
Everybody in the packed courtroom was quietly waiting for the judge to enter when the county prosecutor stood and made a startling offer.
"If anybody wants to resign from the board, we'll drop the charges, and all will be forgiven," Commonwealth's Attorney Robert Hicks told four county supervisors indicted by a grand jury earlier this month. They were in court for the first time Tuesday morning.
The supervisors' four lawyers were incredulous. "Is this your campaign speech?" one replied.
"You're willing to drop the charges if they resign?" Toby Vick, another defense lawyer, asked. "That just proves this is nothing but a political agenda."
Hicks repeated his offer. "That's all anybody ever wanted," he said.
There were no takers.
The day in court was the latest chapter in a political saga.
A grand jury three weeks ago charged that the four supervisors - Teresa Altemus, Bobby Crewe, Michelle Ressler and Gregory Woodard - conspired to fire two top county officials and illegally seized their computers in a midnight raid with help from Sheriff Steve Gentry.
The grand jury also charged that two of the supervisors illegally pressured the Planning Department director to interpret county law in favor of a developer who supported them.
Judge William H. Shaw III on Tuesday recused himself from the case, citing his friendship with Gentry and his wife.
Shaw then set up an Aug. 8 hearing to determine if Hicks should be allowed to prosecute the supervisors. Another judge will decide that. The case is scheduled to resume Aug. 20.
Charges against Gentry were dropped Tuesday in a separate proceeding in York County.
Hicks said after the hearing that he made the offer to drop the case to try saving the county money. If the supervisors win, they could ask Gloucester to reimburse their legal expenses.
"They have four lawyers from all over the state that are going to run up a $100,000 bill," he said.
The supervisors said Hicks' comments proved that the case against them was politically motivated.
"That spoke for itself," Altemus said. "People just did not like the outcome of last year's election."
The political majority on the board changed after two new supervisors - Woodard and Crewe - were elected in November.
The board, headed by Altemus, moved swiftly - and secretly, according to the grand jury report - to oust longtime county Administrator William Whitley and county Attorney Daniel Stuck at the board's first meeting on Jan. 2.
Around midnight, Altemus and Gentry went to Whitley's and Stuck's offices and seized their computers, the report said.
The report also alleged that supervisors Ressler and Crewe unlawfully pressured former Planning Department Director William Scudder to approve projects by a politically connected developer.
Outside the courthouse Tuesday, about 20 people gathered to speak out against the four supervisors. While most said they wanted them to quit, people weren't sure what to make of Hicks' offer.
"If they resigned, that would solve the issue," Linda Walker of Gloucester said, "but everybody deserves their day in court."
Aaron Applegate, (757) 222-5122. aaron.applegate@pilotonline.com
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Again ...
Steven, I understand what you're saying, and I "don't have a dog in this fight," but let me repeat: What happened here is NOT a plea bargain.
Plea bargaining is a necessary evil of the justice system. Sometimes police file charges that don't match the crime or the evidence. Sometimes prosecutors overreach. Sometimes both sides just want an easier way out, i.e., a plea to a lower charge.
But that's not what happened. Here, a prosecutor told duly elected officials to resign their posts, and in return he would change his mind and say no crime had been committed. That is not a plea bargain, that is an attempt to use political/legal power to overturn the results of an election. (There are other, legal ways to do that.)
In other nations, we'd refer to this as a "coup d'etat," not a plea bargain. The next step should be to name a special prosecutor to take *this* prosecutor before the bar on charges of attempting to use coercion to undermine the legal political process.
An open example
This is an open example of what unfortunately happens every day within our court systems. A prosecutor attempts to make a deal, resulting in a lesser charge or in a case such as this, no charge at all. Murder charges reduced to manslaughter, robbery with the use of a handgun down to simple assault. When did we give up our right of full prosecution of criminals to a prosecuting attorney who decides what he will accept as a deal rather than prosecute the relevant charges. I know the comments that will be coming my way, do you know how much money it would cost if we did it the right way, we don't have enough time or staff to do it. All of the answers are the same. It basically comes down to the governments only funding each and every department the same way. They give out money so that the departments can do the amount of work required to keep the majority of the citizenry quiet. They never properly fund any departments. It is time that we the citizens realize that we must pay more so that we can get the expected full and complete services. The commonwealth of Va. definetly needs to become more fiscally responsible and should assess their finances and realize that they have enough fun
the accussed must be republicans.
that is the only reason they'll walk away unscathed and continue to occupy their county seats. Notice i didn't mention serve the public in the elected seats, they have destroyed the public trust for their own interest and benefits. Must be Democrats now that i think aout it..
Computers
I believe the computers were in the goverment offices of those officials which means they are goverment property and is probably why the sheriffs charges were really dismissed.
Grand jury
You should look up what a grand jury is. They hear nothing but what the prosecuter wants them to hear. There is no defense rebuttal or presentation of evidence. Even if the defendant is present, they can only answer the questions asked of them. All it is and ever has been is a tool for the prosecution.
That's not a plea bargain ...
Let's review: The prosecutor believed a crime had been committed. The grand jury agreed -- as grand juries almost always do, because the grand-jury process is wholly in the hands of a prosecutor.
Now the prosecutor is willing to drop the charges -- i.e., agree there actually was no crime committed -- if the suspects agree to resign their political positions.
That's not a plea bargain, that is political extortion. The same tactic was pulled a few years ago in Virginia Beach to try to shove some unpopular representatives off the school board. Some took the bait, some didn't.
A prosecutor cannot just say that if the accused agrees to go away, then no crime was committed. That is an outrageous twisting of the judicial system. If this were allowed to stand, what would protect any office-holder from malicious prosecution if he/she took a political stand that was unpopular with the prosecutor?
Brrr ... sounds pretty Soviet to me.
read before you comment
A "grand jury" is meant to be part of the system of checks and balances, preventing a case from going to trial on a prosecutor's bare word.
The prosecutor did his job and proved to the "grand jury" that the case is worthy to go to trial. Offering a plea deal is a typical method to prevent a court proceeding.
Based on the existing evidance presented so far, these people are right where they should be. Now lets hear thier side, will it hold up, don't know.
Stay tuned part 2
The prosecutor, in my opinion, is not playing judge and jury nor playing politics, but instead making a really good offer considering the charges leveled against the defendants. He is also trying to avoid a lenghty and costly trial which the taxpayers will pay for. The four "prominent" people who were trusted to lead, have failed the people, and abused their power and authority(absolute power corrupts absolutely). I don't blame the prosecutor for making this deal. Apparently the 4 that were charged, don't see that they did anything wrong. Hopefully justice will be served. More power to the prosecutor!
Teresa Altemus, Bobby Crewe,
Teresa Altemus, Bobby Crewe, Michelle Ressler and Gregory Woodard, Ya Better Get Better Lawyers if that is the best Rebuttal they got... "Political", HA HA. Its Criminal what you did.
WHAT A JOKE!!!
Let me get this straight...
- Supervisors get voted into office
- Fire County officials to give Friends jobs that they have no experience in doing
- Direct Sherrif to do a Midnight raid of the fired county officials homes for computers (which are there personal property)
- Send out a memo to all county employees the day after stating "We Are Team Gloucester" "If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm."
Oh yeah, the reason why they wanted to get these folks fired was they had intrest in helping another friend (who is looking at 10 seperate fraud charges from another issue) to get a development done.
And the best rebuttal there out-of-town lawyers can come up with is this is ALL POLITICAL. WHAT A JOKE!!!!!
Stay tuned...
When a prosecutor offers to forgive me if I quit my elected post instead of him having to prosecute me on obvious subjective charges the fish stinks...
The prosecutor is playing judge and jury...
I think the prosecutor has overstepped his boundaries and needs to be removed. He has already caused monetary losses to four prominent people and it causes me to question how much damage he has caused to otherwise other innocent people that he represents in his locality