Beach minister still smarting after judge tosses felony charge

VIRGINIA BEACH

The arrest of a minister outside the Christian Broadcasting Network on charges including felony assault of a campus officer was resolved in court last month when the charge was dismissed.

Pastor Eddy Bailey, founder of Town Center Church, is among the minority in such cases. Most cases of felony assault on an officer that head to courts in Hampton Roads result in convictions, a review of Virginia Supreme Court data shows.

Of about 410 reviewed cases handled in local district courts in 2008, 83 percent were certified to a grand jury or ended in a finding of guilty on a lesser charge, while 17 percent were dismissed or not prosecuted.

Of about 300 reviewed cases that were disposed of in local circuit courts in the same year, about 75 percent were found guilty and about 4 percent not guilty. About 14 percent were dropped with the right to re-charge, and 7 percent were dismissed.

But still the incident - which started with a rejected inspection sticker and ended with the minister being pepper sprayed and arrested - has left him and his wife, a prayer counselor for CBN, with unresolved feelings.

"I replay it all the time," said Bailey, the senior pastor. His church, with about 30 members, meets at Hilton Garden Inn in Town Center.

Bailey, 55, was picking up his wife, Marilyn, after she finished her shift on Jan. 4 at Pat Robertson's television ministry.

Officer Yahzin Moreno of the CBN/Regent Campus Police Department noticed that their Dodge Neon had a rejected inspection sticker. He pulled up and told Bailey to hand over his driver's license.

Bailey, who was standing outside the car with his wife, did not comply. Rather, he asked the officer why.

Each side has a different story about what transpired next. Bailey ended up being pepper sprayed as he sat in the passenger seat of the car and placed under arrest for assault on an officer, a felony, and obstruction of justice, a misdemeanor.

Bailey said he believed that because he was standing outside the car, not driving it, he was not required to talk with the officer. Moreno's report says he saw Bailey drive onto the campus.

Bailey had been coming to CBN for years to pick up his wife and had been stopped by a campus police officer in October for the same rejected inspection sticker. In that case, Bailey wrote a letter to campus police complaining about the officer.

During the Jan. 4 confrontation, Bailey said, he tried to explain that he was taking care of the inspection.

By law, a rejection sticker is valid for 15 days. The deadline had long passed.

Based on Bailey's account and police reports provided by CBN/Regent police Chief Chris Mitchell, what happened next was a tense back-and-forth between Bailey and Moreno in which Bailey got in the car on the passenger side, and the officer was opening the car door and Bailey was closing it. After spraying him, Moreno arrested Bailey and took him before a magistrate.

CBN/Regent police are sworn police officers under Virginia law with the same authority as city police. They must undergo police training required by the state.

The prosecution was granted its motion to dismiss the felony assault charge on Feb. 19. A conviction would have meant a mandatory minimum sentence of six months in jail.

The case was not prosecuted "because neither the law nor the evidence constituted a substantial likelihood of a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt," said Julie Pickell, a spokeswoman for the commonwealth's attorney.

Bailey also wasn't prosecuted on the obstruction-of-justice charge, but the commonwealth's attorney retains the right to bring the charge back.

Because of that, prosecutors will not discuss facts of the case, Pickell said.

The Christian Broadcasting Network has not conceded anything.

"We are confident in the facts as stated in the police report," spokesman Chris Roslan said. "Our officers are highly trained and responded according to standard police procedure."

Roslan pointed out that Bailey was driving with a rejection sticker as well as an expired driver's license. Bailey admits he was at fault on both counts.

He was not charged for the rejection sticker or the expired license; Roslan said the officer chose to ignore the minor offenses after he felt more serious ones had taken place. Bailey has not renewed his license and said he has not driven because of eye problems. His wife drives the car, which has since passed inspection.

Bailey said he can't stop thinking about the arrest.

"To have a felony charge brought against you... He was humiliated," Marilyn Bailey said.

She said she saw Officer Moreno a few weeks ago when she was getting off an elevator at CBN and he was getting on it.

They looked at each other, she said, but neither spoke.

Patrick Wilson, (757) 222-5150, patrick.wilson@pilotonline.com