AP
Bob and Maureen McDonnell
(Associated Press photo)
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Former Virginia first lady Maureen McDonnell is asking an appeals court to suspend her case while the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether to review her husband’s public corruption convictions. Maureen McDonnell’s attorneys filed a motion Wednesday with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The U.S. Supreme Court issued an order in August saying former Gov. Bob McDonnell could remain out of jail while the high court decides whether to review his case. The McDonnells were convicted last year of doing favors for a former vitamin executive in exchange for more than $165,000 in gifts and loans. Both have been sentenced to prison but remain free on appeal. In its motion Wednesday, lawyers for Maureen McDonnell indicated that prosecutors oppose the request to suspend her case.
CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. (AP) _ A Christiansburg man involved in separate hit-and-run incidents over a two-week period has been sentenced to six years in prison. Media outlets report 61-year-old Walter Ray Royal was sentenced Wednesday in Montgomery County Circuit Court. He pleaded guilty to two felony hit-and-run charges and one misdemeanor charge of filing a false police report. Montgomery County Commonwealth’s Attorney Mary Pettitt says Royal struck a woman who was riding a motorized bike in Christiansburg on Jan. 16. She broke her leg and injured her neck and back. The next day, Royal reported to police that his truck had been stolen. Pettitt says Royal struck a car while driving in Christiansburg on Jan. 28.
Joseph Sink, Jr.
MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) _ A Martinsville man is missing after he fell from a canoe into the Smith River. Multiple media outlets report that 30-year-old Joseph Sink Jr. and another man were in a canoe that overturned south of Martinsville on Tuesday evening. Henry County public safety director Matt Tatum says the other man was able to get to the riverbank. He ran into a passerby and called 911. Rescue crews planned to resume the search for Sink on Wednesday morning.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Gov. Terry McAuliffe has confirmed he is incentivizing Deschutes Brewery of Bend, Oregon to pick Virginia as its new East Coast site. Multiple media outlets report that Deschutes is looking at different places on the East Coast to house its first area location. The Daily Progress of Charlottesville reports that McAuliffe visited the brewery in mid-September to help entice the brewery to break ground in the commonwealth. McAuliffe says he is under a non-disclosure agreement and could not say much about Deschutes and its interest in Virginia, but that they are deciding between Virginia and another state. Deschutes CEO Michael LaLonde says nothing has been ruled out and that they will make a decision by the end of the year.
Tracie Nininger (WDBJ photo)
ROANOKE, Va. (AP) _ A Roanoke County woman has been sentenced to an additional six years and two months in prison for driving drunk in violation of her probation that stemmed from a fatal construction zone crash in 2008. Media outlets report 49-year-old Tracie Nininger’s suspended sentence in the 2008 case was revoked for her guilty plea to driving drunk last year in Roanoke. A judge imposed the new sentence Monday. Nininger was convicted in the 2008 crash that killed 46-year-old construction worker Richard Slone. She served two-and-a-half years in prison for driving under the influence of alcohol and aggravated involuntary manslaughter. She previously was sentenced to five years in prison in the 2014 case.
George Huguely V
Yeardley Love
UPDATE: The U.S. Supreme Court has denied the appeal — with no written explanation. It was among a list of hundreds of cases that were similarly rejected.
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) _ The U.S. Supreme Court is due to decide whether to hear the case of a former University of Virginia lacrosse player convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend. The Daily Progress of Charlottesville reports (http://bit.ly/1LdlZMz ) that the Supreme Court will review a petition Monday that defense attorneys for 27-year-old George Huguely V filed in June. Huguely, of Chevy Chase, Maryland, is serving a 23-year sentence in Virginia. He was convicted of second-degree murder in the death of 22-year-old Yeardley Love in 2010. Love, from suburban Baltimore, was a member of the women’s lacrosse team at U.Va. The petition says Huguely was denied counsel when one of his attorneys fell ill during his trial and the judge agreed to proceed despite his objections. The Court of Appeals of Virginia affirmed Huguely’s conviction in 2014.
The Virginia National Guard plans to have up to 800 personnel in place by Friday night to respond to storm-related events. Staging areas will be in Hampton Roads, central and southwest Virginia and in the Shenandoah Valley. Deputy director of joint operations Lt. Col. Douglas Gagnon says personnel must be in place before the severe weather hit to allow for a rapid response when needed. He says among the tasks the Guard is prepared to handle include tree and debris removal and transporting flood victims to safety. The Virginia National Guard was last on state active duty in February and March responding to heavy snow and flooding.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Virginia State Police say a police impersonator has been stopping motorists in the southwest corner of the state. Since Monday, the Bristol area office of the state police has received several phone calls regarding a man driving an unmarked black Ford Crown Victoria in Washington County. The incidents have occurred along Interstate 81 and on a local road. Motorists who were stopped said the vehicle had a flashing blue light within the car’s interior. In all three stops, the driver pulled over motorists for so-called traffic stops. State police say the black unmarked car is not part of its fleet or part of the county sheriff’s office fleet of cars.
BEDFORD, Va. (AP) _ A convicted sex offender charged with murder in the disappearance of two sisters from a suburban Maryland mall in 1975 is set to make his initial appearance in a Virginia court. Lloyd Lee Michael Welch Jr. is scheduled to appear at a state court in Bedford on Thursday. Welch is charged in connection with the disappearance of 12-year-old Sheila Lyon and 10-year-old Katharine Lyon. The sisters were walking from their house to the Wheaton Plaza Mall. The girls never came home, and no bodies were found. Authorities say Welch was at the mall the day the girls vanished and was seen paying attention to them. Welch had been serving a lengthy prison term in Delaware, but officials said Wednesday that he’s been transferred to the Amherst County Adult Detention Center.
Jesse Matthew, Jr.
FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) _ A former girlfriend of Jesse Matthew says that he was raped as a child and that it played a key role in allegations that he raped and killed multiple women. Matthew is awaiting trial in the killings of college students Hannah Graham and Morgan Harrington. Earlier this year, Matthew was convicted in Fairfax County of sexual assault for an attack on a woman in 2005. He will be sentenced Friday in that case and could get life in prison. In a letter to the judge made public Tuesday, the girlfriend, whose full name was not included in the letter, said Matthew was sexually abused by at least three different people. In another letter, Matthew’s mother begged for mercy and said her son “has always shown respect to everyone around him.”