Inmate's legal claim in Va. Beach lost in court date confusion

VIRGINIA BEACH

When Christopher D'Angelo Williams faced trial in May for having an unauthorized weapon in his jail cell, deputies transported him from the Chesapeake City Jail to Virginia Beach Circuit Court.

But a month and a half earlier, a judge had dismissed a charge Williams took out against a Beach deputy for abusive language because Williams didn't show up for the court date. Williams - in jail in Chesapeake - said he didn't know the case was scheduled for that day.

And weeks before that, prosecutors had tried to have the misdemeanor charge against the deputy dismissed with neither the deputy nor the inmate present.

Williams' claim against the deputy and a magistrate's finding of probable cause for a criminal charge created tension between the offices of Sheriff Ken Stolle and Chief Magistrate Thomas Cahill earlier this year. Virginia Beach's magistrates have since recused themselves from hearing complaints against city law enforcement.

The case also raises questions about how Williams' complaint against the deputy was handled and whether he got his day in court.

In an interview last week, Williams said he filed the abusive language charge after a deputy threatened his life Feb. 18. Stolle said the threat never happened, and the deputy declined to comment.

Stolle and Sgt. David Rosado of the Chesapeake Sheriff's Department said it was up to Williams to keep track of the court date and request a court order for deputies to transport him to Virginia Beach that day.

Cases like Williams' are common, said Rebecca Glenberg, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia. It's especially difficult for inmates who don't understand the legal system, she said.

"It's a familiar scenario," she said. "The legal system puts up all sorts of obstacles to inmates who want to press legal claims."

But Stolle said he believes Williams "absolutely" got a fair chance to be heard.

"We thoroughly investigated, and I'm satisfied with the report," he said. "He's got to accept responsibility for his lack of appearing in court."

Two criminal charges and 19 internal complaints have been filed by inmates against deputies and jail staff members this year, Stolle said. All but one were unfounded, he said, and in that one case the deputy was terminated.

"We are very strict when it comes to conforming to the law and treatment of inmates," he said.

On the morning of Feb. 18, Williams, 20, said, he was in isolation in the Beach jail, where he'd been held 11 months on trespassing and concealed weapon charges, when two deputies approached him. Stolle said they were there to uncover the room's camera, which Williams had blocked.

According to Williams, the deputies said they were responding to his request for emergency grievance paperwork to complain about how feces thrown by inmates hadn't been cleaned up. One of the deputies asked Williams why he was incarcerated. He replied that he was in for a gun charge and would be getting out soon, he said.

Then, according to Williams, the other deputy, Johnathan Burton, asked Williams if he was making a threat. Williams claims Burton then said he could shoot Williams if he saw him on the street and cover it up by saying he had threatened him.

"I just knew that he had just threatened my life," Williams said.

Williams said he immediately asked to see a magistrate in order to file criminal charges. He said he also filed a complaint with the jail's watch commander.

About a week later, jail officials took him to see the magistrate, where Williams swore out a complaint against Burton for abusive language. The summons said it was scheduled for court on March 31.

Later that day, Williams said, he was transferred to the Chesapeake City Jail and prevented from taking his paperwork with him. Stolle said inmates are transferred from Virginia Beach when they take out a criminal complaint against a deputy in order to avoid further conflict. But they are always given their personal property and legal paperwork, he said.

While in Chesapeake, Williams said, he received paperwork about court dates on the felony charge he was facing but no correspondence about his case against the deputy.

Meanwhile, Stolle's office asked prosecutors to review the case in the hopes of having it dismissed. He said his professional standards office had investigated the complaint and cleared Burton.

Beach prosecutors don't typically get involved in such misdemeanor cases, but they said the magistrate never should have allowed Williams to swear out the complaint.

"We stepped in because the office determined that the deputy was being improperly charged," said Macie Pridgen, a spokeswoman for the commonwealth's attorney's office.

On March 3, weeks before the case was scheduled to be heard, a prosecutor asked Judge Pamela E. Hutchens to dismiss the case. She denied the request because neither Williams nor Burton were present, according to court documents. She also said there was no evidence that prosecutors had informed Williams that they were trying to have the charge dismissed.

On March 31, a substitute judge dismissed Williams' charge against Burton because the inmate wasn't there, according to court records.

On May 18, Williams said Virginia Beach deputies picked him up from the Chesapeake City Jail for the charge he faced: having an unauthorized weapon in his jail cell on Dec. 16. He was convicted on that felony charge and sentenced to two more months of active time. He was released July 15.

"I really don't know what to think," Williams said.

Jen McCaffery, (757) 222-5119, jen.mccaffery@pilotonline.com

Kathy Adams, (757) 222-5155,kathy.adams@pilotonline.com