Across Virginia
STAFFORD, Va. (AP) — A Virginia jury has recommended an 81-year prison sentence for a former police officer convicted of trying to hire a hit man while she was jailed on other charges.The Free Lance-Star reports that jurors on Friday convicted 39-year-old Cassie Crisano of three counts of attempted capital murder and three counts of soliciting capital murder. She was acquitted of three conspiracy charges.Crisano, a former officer for the Prince George’s County Police Department in Maryland, was convicted of trying to arrange for someone to kill witnesses against her: a Stafford police detective, a former friend and the father of her youngest child.The judge who is scheduled to sentence Crisano on Nov. 8 can reduce her recommended sentence but cannot give a longer sentence than the one suggested by jurors.
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — A federal judge in Virginia ruled Friday that a school board’s transgender bathroom ban discriminated against a former student, Gavin Grimm, the latest in a string of decisions nationwide that favor transgender students who faced similar policies.
The order issued by U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen in Norfolk is a major victory for the American Civil Liberties Union and for Grimm. His four-year lawsuit was once a federal test case and had come to embody the debate about transgender student rights.
The issue remains far from settled as a patchwork of differing policies governs schools across the nation. More court cases are making their way through the courts.
The Gloucester County School Board’s policy required Grimm, a transgender male, to use girls’ restrooms or private bathrooms. The judge wrote that Grimm’s rights were violated under the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection clause as well as under Title IX, the federal policy that protects against gender-based discrimination.
″(T)here is no question that the Board’s policy discriminates against transgender students on the basis of their gender noncomformity,” Allen wrote.
“Under the policy, all students except for transgender students may use restrooms corresponding with their gender identity,” she continued. “Transgender students are singled out, subjected to discriminatory treatment, and excluded from spaces where similarly situated students are permitted to go.”
Allen’s ruling requires the school board to update the gender on Grimm’s high school transcripts.
The judge also acknowledged that the board had the “unenviable responsibility” of navigating challenges that were unimaginable a generation ago.
“There can be no doubt that all involved in this case have the best interests of the students at heart,” Allen added.
Grimm graduated in 2017 from Gloucester High School, located in a mostly rural area about 60 miles (95 kilometers) east of Richmond and near the Chesapeake Bay. Now 20 and living in California, he said by phone that the judge’s order was “beautiful.”
Grimm said he felt a sense of relief but would continue to fight the case if the school board appeals.
“My case has given me something of a platform that I intend to use, as long as I have it available to me, for trans education and advocacy,” he added.
David Corrigan, the attorney for the Gloucester County School Board, declined to comment in an email to The Associated Press.
Corrigan had argued in court last month that Grimm remained female. He said gender is not a “societal construct” and that it doesn’t matter that Grimm underwent chest reconstruction surgery and hormone therapy.
The judge’s ruling will likely strengthen similar claims of discrimination made by students in eastern Virginia. It could have a greater impact if the case goes to an appeals court that oversees Maryland, West Virginia and the Carolinas.
Allen’s ruling joins others that have been favorable to transgender students in states that include Maryland, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. But differing policies are still in place in schools across the country, said Harper Jean Tobin, policy director for the National Center for Transgender Equality, speaking last month with the AP.
Gary McCaleb, senior counsel for the conservative Christian group Alliance Defending Freedom, said last month that the issue is far from resolved.
McCaleb cited a federal discrimination complaint his organization filed in June that says a Connecticut policy on transgender athletes is unfair because it allows transgender girls to consistently win track and field events.
He also said a pending U.S. Supreme Court case involving a transgender woman who was fired by a Michigan funeral home could affect school bathroom policies.
Grimm’s lawsuit became a federal test case when it was supported by the administration of then-President Barack Obama and scheduled to go before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2017.
But the high court hearing was canceled after President Donald Trump rescinded an Obama-era directive that students can choose bathrooms corresponding with their gender identity.
Democrats in Virginia are pointing to the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton as reasons to pass new gun laws in the state. Virginia Tech Professor Bob Denton says this comes just as a few swing districts could determine which party controls the General Assembly next year — and he says those districts generally have growing numbers of voters who identify as Democrats. WFIR’s Evan Jones has more:
FORT MONROE, Va. (AP) – Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is praising the state’s removal of Confederate president Jefferson Davis’ name from an archway at the site where the first enslaved Africans arrived in Virginia 400 years ago. Northam said at a news conference Tuesday that removing the letters from a 1950s-era archway reading “Jefferson Davis Memorial Park” at Fort Monroe will make the state more “welcoming and reflective of our values.” The letters were removed Friday. They will be placed in a museum at the former military base, which overlooks Chesapeake Bay and was the site of the 1619 arrival of the state’s first Africans. Davis was imprisoned at the fort after the Civil War. Northam pledged to work toward racial reconciliation earlier this year after a racist yearbook photo almost forced him from office.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – The Virginia State Board of Elections has rejected an effort to put a Republican lawmaker on the ballot after he failed to file his candidacy paperwork on time. The Democratic-led board rejected efforts Tuesday to allow GOP Del. Nick Freitas on the ballot. The decision comes in an election year when Virginia Republicans are fighting to hold onto their narrow House majority. Freitas may have to run an expensive write-in campaign to hold on to a Republican-friendly seat. Freitas withdrew his candidacy last month and was then nominated by local Republicans as a replacement candidate in a failed workaround bid to get on the ballot. Board Chairman Bob Brink, a former Democratic lawmaker, said candidates are responsible for filing their paperwork on time and the board must uphold official deadlines.
Virginia’s Department of Motor Vehicles is offering another service you can perform on line — and avoid the need to visit a DMV center. You now have the option of going on line to “surrender” license plates you no longer use. You do not have to physically return the plates, but once you surrender them on line, you cannot use them again. WFIR’s Evan Jones has more:
Photo: Va DBHDS
UPDATE: Governor Northam says Hughes Melton, Virginia’s Commissioner of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, has died from injuries he received in an automobile accident Wednesday. The accident in Augusta County had already taken the life of an 18-year-old woman driving a second vehicle. Melton was 52.
FROM GOVERNOR NORTHAM’S OFFICE: “Pam and I are deeply saddened by the death of Dr. Hughes Melton, Commissioner of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. Dr. Melton passed away today from injuries he sustained in a car accident on Wednesday. We extend our thoughts and prayers to Dr. Melton’s wife, daughters, and family and friends. We also extend our prayers and sympathies to the family of Hailey Green, a young woman from Staunton who was killed in the accident.
“Dr. Melton was a fellow veteran and physician. In 2018, I appointed Dr. Melton to serve Virginia as our DBHDS commissioner, a role he filled ably and with enthusiasm. His public service also included his previous appointment as Deputy Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Health, as well as service on a number of boards and groups devoted to improving the medical profession, health policy, and addiction treatment. Dr. Melton for many years made his home in Southwest Virginia, where he built a well-respected career as a family physician and addiction expert.
“Not only was Dr. Melton a devoted public servant and physician, I considered him a friend.
“Our thoughts are with all who knew and loved both Hughes Melton and Hailey Green.”
PREVIOUS: Virginia’s top mental health official was involved in a fatal accident yesterday in Augusta County that killed an 18-year-old woman. State Police say Samuel Hughes Melton was driving an SUV that crossed the center line and struck an oncoming car head-on. The driver of the car, Hailey Green of Staunton, died at the scene. Troopers describe Melton’s injuries as life-threatening. He is Virginia’s Commissioner of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. State Police say he may have suffered a medical emergency just prior to the crash.
STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE: Virginia State Police Trooper J. Martin is investigating a three-vehicle fatal crash in Augusta County. The crash occurred shortly before 1 p.m. on July 31, 2019 on Route 254 near Kiddsville Road. A 2018 Hyundai Tuscon was traveling east on Route 254 when it struck the rear bumper of an eastbound 2018 Subaru CrossTrek. They Hyundai crossed the center line and struck head-on a westbound 2003 Toyota Solara. The driver of the Hyundai, Samuel H. Melton, 52, of Bristol, Va., was transported to UVA Medical Center for treatment of life-threatening injuries. The driver of the Toyota, Hailey D. Green, 18, of Staunton, Va., died at the scene. The driver of the Subaru, Jean M. Scheer, 55, of Waynesboro, Va., was not injured in the crash.
All drivers were wearing seat belts. Further investigation has revealed that Melton may have suffered a medical emergency, which is being investigated as a factor in the crash.
Photo: RACC Facebook
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — An animal shelter in Virginia is seeking information about a pit bull that was apparently strangled with a leash and dumped behind an elementary school.
The Richmond Animal Care and Control shelter on Thursday shared photos of the black and white pit bull whose body was found in a trash bin behind John B. Cary Elementary. It also showed the braided green and brown leash believed to have been used to strangle the female dog.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Virginia election officials have denied a belated request to put a GOP lawmaker on the November ballot after he missed a filing deadline and submitted incomplete paperwork. The decision comes in an election year when Virginia Republicans are fighting to hold onto their narrow House majority. The state GOP’s 30th District Legislative Committee voted last week to select Del. Nick Freitas as their candidate. Freitas had withdrawn his candidacy for re-election July 18, one day before election officials planned to decide on his request to appear on the ballot despite his paperwork issues. The Washington post reports the move was supposed to allow Freitas to refile as a replacement candidate, but the State Board of Elections denied it. He may have to run as a write-in. Freitas says he’ll appeal.
Photo: AP
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — A New Jersey woman who once appeared on reality television shows “American Idol” and “Fear Factor” has pleaded guilty to a drug charge in Virginia and could face 10 years in prison. The Virginian-Pilot reports 32-year-old Antonella Barba pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiracy to distribute a synthetic opioid. She will be sentenced in November.
Court documents state a man named Justin Michael Isaac was traveling to Virginia for a delivery in 2018, but he was recorded on the phone saying he was sending someone else. Police staked out a Norfolk stash house and arrested Barba with nearly 2 pounds (0.9 kilograms) of fentanyl. She told police she’d arrived that day from Los Angeles. Isaac faces trial in August on similar charges.
Barba appeared on American Idol in 2007.