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WASHINGTON (AP) _ Five Native Americans are asking a Virginia judge to dismiss a lawsuit the Washington Redskins filed after the group successfully challenged the team’s name, arguing it is offensive. Lawyers for both sides are expected in federal court in Alexandria on Friday, where a judge is scheduled to hear arguments on whether the lawsuit should be thrown out. The five won a victory earlier this year when a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office board ruled that six trademark registrations on the team’s name should be canceled because they were “disparaging to Native Americans” when registered. After the board’s action, the team in August sued the five Native Americans, asking a federal court to stop the cancellation from happening.
Former Virginia
Gov. Bob McDonnell
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Lawyers for former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell say he should get a new trial on corruption charges because the jury in his case was potentially biased and may have acted improperly. McDonnell’s lawyers filed court documents Thursday saying U.S. District Judge James Spencer did not properly examine whether potential jurors for the case had been unfairly swayed by pre-trial news coverage of the case. Defense attorneys also argued that Spencer should have investigated a possible claim that jurors who were picked for the case discussed the trial among themselves before they were allowed to do so.
McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, were convicted in September of performing “official acts” to promote a businessman’s dietary supplement products in exchange for more than $165,000 in gifts, trips and loans.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ The Virginia Department of Corrections has announced plans to monitor sex offenders under probation and parole supervision throughout the state on Halloween night. Through Operation Porch Lights Out, offenders are required to remain at home with their lights out and not answer the door for trick-or-treaters. If they’re not at home, they are required to attend a meeting at a secure location during the evening hours when children are likely to be trick-or-treating. Of Virginia’s 43 probation and parole districts, seven districts plan to hold mandatory meetings at secure locations while the remaining districts will require offenders to remain at home with their lights out, not answering the door for trick-or-treaters. To ensure offender compliance, probation and parole officers, state police and local law enforcement will make random home visits.
Jesse Matthew, Jr.
FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) _ The man accused of abducting University of Virginia student Hannah Graham is being arraigned on an unrelated sexual assault from nearly a decade ago. Jesse Matthew will appear Friday morning for his arraignment in Fairfax County Circuit Court via video from a jail in the Charlottesville area, where he is being held. Matthew was indicted earlier this month on charges including attempted capital murder in connection with a September 2005 sexual assault on a 26-year-old woman who was walking home from the supermarket in Fairfax. For several years, authorities have said the assault was linked by DNA to the disappearance of Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington. Fairfax authorities charged Matthew shortly after authorities linked the Harrington case to Graham’s abduction as well. The 18-year-old Graham’s remains were found in mid-October.
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) _ A judge has ruled that a criminal defendant cannot be forced give authorities the pass code to his cellphone. The Virginian Pilot reports that Virginia Beach Circuit Judge Steven Frucci issued the ruling this week in the case of David Baust, who is charged with trying to strangle his girlfriend. Prosecutors wanted to search Baust’s cellphone for a possible video of the couple’s altercation. Defense attorney James Broccoletti argued that pass codes are protected by the Fifth Amendment, which shields a defendant from self-incrimination. Frucci ruled that authorities can gain access if a phone can be opened with a fingerprint, which is akin to a DNA sample, a writing sample or an actual key. But he said a pass code requires the defendant to divulge knowledge, which is protected.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ The city of Martinsville had the highest jobless rate in Virginia in September. The Virginia Employment Commission says the city’s seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate was 11.1 percent. That’s down from 11.4 percent in August and the same rate as a year ago. The statewide rate for September was 5.2 percent. Nationally, the seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate for August was 5.7 percent. Rates dropped from last year in 339 metropolitan areas, increased in 26 and were flat in seven. Arlington County and the city of Falls Church had Virginia’s lowest jobless rates with 3.7 percent in September. The Danville region had the highest unemployment rate among Virginia’s metropolitan regions at 7.2 percent. The Washington metropolitan region that includes Arlington and Alexandria had the lowest rate of 4.3 percent.
LYNCHBURG, Va. (AP) _ A plea hearing is set for a former Roanoke woman charged in a Smith Mountain Lake mortgage fraud scheme. Susanne Helbig’s hearing is scheduled for Thursday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Lynchburg. Helbig, who now lives in Georgia, was charged in a 15-count indictment with bank fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, making false statements in connection with a loan and making a false statement on a tax return. The indictment claimed that in 2006 and 2007, Helbig and others submitted false and fraudulent mortgage loan applications and settlement statements in the name of straw purchasers. The losses were calculated at about $11 million.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ The Virginia Board of Education is honoring two school divisions and 40 schools for improving the academic performance of economically disadvantaged students. The awards are based on results of Standards of Learning tests during the last two school years. West Point and Poquoson public schools were honored as Highly Distinguished Divisions for high graduation rates and for two years of full accreditation and exceeding federal objectives in English and math. Four schools in Amherst, Arlington, Franklin and Isle of Wight counties were named Highly Distinguished Schools for exceeding state and federal benchmarks two years in a row and passing English and math SOL tests at or above the 85th percentile. Thirty-six schools that passed at the 60th percentile or better also were recognized.
ROANOKE, Va. (AP) _ Developers of a proposed interstate natural gas pipeline have moved to begin a federal review of the project. Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission this week to initiate the agency’s pre-filing process.Commission spokeswoman Tamara Young-Allen tells The Roanoke Times that the process is designed to identify and resolve issues before a formal application is filed. The 300-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline is a joint venture between EQT Corp. and NextEra Energy Era Inc. It would run from Wetzel County, West Virginia, to another pipeline in Pittsylvania County. The pipeline must be approved by the commission before it could be built.Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin have expressed support for the pipeline.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ A lawyer for the state has asked a federal appeals court to approve Virginia’s policy of automatically holding death row inmates in solitary confinement. The Virginia Department of Corrections is appealing a judge’s ruling that automatic around-the-clock isolation violates death row inmates’ due process rights. At a hearing Tuesday, state Solicitor General Stuart Raphael told a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that it should defer to prison officials’ judgment that death row inmates are so dangerous and such big escape risks that solitary confinement is justified. An attorney for death row inmate Alfredo Prieto said solitary is so extreme that it should be done only after an individual assessment determines it is necessary. The appeals court typically rules a few weeks after hearing arguments.