Across Virginia
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The owner of the gun that authorities say a 14-year-old boy allegedly used to kill a 13-year-old girl has been charged with a misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that Richard M. Pierce appeared in the Henrico County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court on Thursday.
Henrico Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor announced the new charge in a news release Friday. Taylor didn’t detail Pierce’s connection to the boy, who has also gone unidentified. But she had previously said someone in the boy’s household had a handgun to which the boy got access.
Pierce will next appear in court Nov. 1
Last month, Taylor announced that she would be seeking to have the youth tried as an adult. A hearing is set for Nov. 22.
The boy is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 13-year-old Lucia Bremer. If tried in juvenile court, he could only be held until the age of 21. If tried as an adult, he could receive up to life in prison.
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A leading Islamic State media figure and foreign fighter has been charged in U.S. federal court in Virginia with conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization resulting in death, federal officials said Saturday.
Mohammed Khalifa, a Saudi-born Canadian citizen who was a leading figure in the Islamic State of Iraq, was captured overseas by the Syrian Democratic Forces in January 2019, federal officials said. He was recently transferred into FBI custody, at which point he was first brought to the Eastern District of Virginia.
“As alleged, Mohammed Khalifa not only fought for ISIS on the battlefield in Syria, but he was also the voice behind the violence,” said Raj Parekh, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “Through his alleged leading role in translating, narrating, and advancing ISIS’s online propaganda, Khalifa promoted the terrorist group, furthered its worldwide recruitment efforts, and expanded the reach of videos that glorified the horrific murders and indiscriminate cruelty of ISIS.”
Khalifa, 38, served in prominent roles within the Islamic State starting in 2013 and continuing until his capture by the SDF in January 2019 following a firefight between Islamic State fighters and the SDF, officials said.
In addition to allegedly serving as an Islamic State fighter, Khalifa allegedly served as a lead translator in the group’s propaganda production and the English-speaking narrator on multiple violent recruitment videos.
The complaint in federal court also alleges Khalifa traveled to Syria in the spring of 2013 with the intent of becoming a foreign fighter and ultimately joining the Islamic State. He joined the group in or around November 2013 and swore allegiance to then-Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. In early 2014, he was recruited to join the group’s Media Bureau partly due to his linguistic capabilities as a fluent English and Arabic speaker.
Prosecutors say Khalifa played an important role in producing and disseminating Islamic State propaganda across multiple media platforms targeting Western audiences. He focused primarily on enticing supporters to travel to Islamic State-controlled areas to join or to conduct attacks in the West, including in the United States, on the group’s behalf. He also actively participated in armed hostilities on behalf of the Islamic State, according to the complaint.
The complaint alleges Khalifa assisted in the translation and narration of approximately 15 total videos created and distributed by the Islamic State. The productions narrated by Khalifa include two of the most influential and exceedingly violent propaganda videos, the complaint said.
The videos, containing English narration by Khalifa, were part of a media campaign promoting violence committed against U.S. citizens and other countries’ citizens in order to incite further violence against the United States, allied nations, and their citizens.
The videos depict glamorized portrayals of the Islamic State and its fighters as well as scenes of violence, including depictions of unarmed prisoners being executed, depictions of Islamic State attacks in the United States, and footage of attacks and fighting in what is described as Syria and Egypt, a news release from the U.S. attorney’s office said.
If convicted, Khalifa faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Virginia’s governor is asking for federal assistance to help Buchanan County recover from extreme rainfall that destroyed homes and caused an estimated $13.8 million in damage to public infrastructure in August. According to a news release, Gov. Ralph Northam requested Thursday that President Joe Biden approve federal assistance through a major disaster declaration to help the county and residents recover after a storm dumped 8 to10 inches of rain in the Hurley area, causing flash flooding and landslides. Virginia officials say in addition to the damage to infrastructure, such as roads and water lines, assessments found 31 homes were destroyed, 27 sustained major damage, and eight had minor damage from this extreme rainfall event.
The Christian Broadcasting Network says Pat Robertson is stepping down as host of the long-running daily television show the “700 Club. “The 91-year-old televangelist says Friday was his last show as host of the weekday program, and his son, Gordon, is taking over as full-time host. CBN began airing in 1961 after Robertson bought a bankrupt UHF television station. The “700 Club” began production in 1966. The network is now based in Virginia Beach. And its outreach extends to more than 100 countries and territories in dozens of languages. The “700 Club” talk show can be seen in the vast majority of U.S. television markets.
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) – Authorities say a North Carolina man wanted for first-degree murder in the death of his girlfriend has been apprehended in Virginia. Police in Newport News, Virginia, say 27-year-old Travis Jefferson was taken into custody around 2 p.m. on Thursday. A news release says local officers along with the U.S. Marshal Service and Virginia State Police had been looking for Jefferson. News outlets report 21-year-old Nicoda Melvin was shot in the head in a home that the couple shared. The shooting happened on Sept, 19, three days before two of her relatives were shot and killed.
Coronavirus vaccines were one of the topics discussed during the final debate of the Virginia gubernatorial campaign. WFIR’s Clark Palmer has that story
Former Democrat Governor Terry McAuliffe maintains a 7-percentage point lead over Republican Glenn Youngkin (48%-41%) with 9% undecided in the race for Virginia governor, according to The Roanoke College Poll. Democrats also lead the downticket races, with Del. Hala Ayala (D) ahead of former Del. Winsome Sears (R) 45%-40% for lieutenant governor and Attorney General Mark Herring (D) leading Del. Jason Miyares (R) 47%-37% in the race for attorney general. The Institute for Policy and Opinion Research interviewed 603 likely Virginia voters between September 12 and September 26 and has a margin of error of +4.0%.
Republicans hold an advantage in being extremely enthusiastic about voting (43% to 35% for Democrats), while about 9 in 10 partisans say they are almost certain to vote (91% of Republicans vs. 88% of Democrats). Likely voters see the economy (21%) and COVID (19%) as the most important issues in the election ahead of race relations (6%), and health care (6%).
McAuliffe’s favorable rating is 50% while his unfavorable is 37% with 13% unsure or not knowing enough to have an opinion. Youngkin is at 40%/41% favorable/unfavorable (both numbers up significantly in a month), while 20% of likely voters still don’t have an opinion about him.
Biden, Northam, the Nation, and the Commonwealth
Half of likely voters (50%) approve of the way President Joe Biden his handling his job and 45% disapprove. Biden’s approval rating has remained relatively stable, but disapproval has been rising in each Roanoke College Poll since he took office. Biden’s favorable/unfavorable rating is 51%/46%. Just over one-third (35%) of respondents think the country is headed in the right direction, while 58% think the country is on the wrong track.
While a majority of likely voters (59%) think the decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan was correct, two-thirds (66%) think the United States failed in achieving its goals. Nearly three-fourths (73%) of respondents rate the job of the Biden administration in Afghanistan as fair or poor, and 90% view Taliban control of Afghanistan as a threat to the security of the U.S.
Job approval for Virginia Governor Ralph Northam sits at 55%, while 40% disapprove of his performance. Just over half (52%) of respondents think that Virginia is headed in the right direction, but 43% think the state is on the wrong track. Northam is viewed favorably by 54% of likely voters (a Roanoke College Poll record high for him) and is seen unfavorably by 39% (also a record high).
Regarding the Commonwealth’s budget surplus, voters prefer to see increased funding for education (42%), or tax cuts (29%), while fewer want to see more money allocated for social programs (20%) or salary increases for state employees (6%). Abortion policy has been emphasized in the campaign as well. A majority of likely voters (62%) thinks abortion should be legal in most or all cases, while about one-third (32%) think it should be illegal in most or all cases.
COVID-19
Nearly three-fourths (74%) of Virginia residents know someone who has contracted COVID. Among those who know someone, 79 respondents (18%) had the virus themselves. More than half (51%) have a family member who was sick, and 51% have a friend or relative who had the virus. Two-thirds (66%) of respondents are very or somewhat concerned that they or someone in their household will contract the virus.
A majority (61%) thinks they would be slightly ill if they contracted the virus (up significantly since we asked this in November 2020), while 8% think they would be very ill, and another 7% think they would be extremely sick and perhaps die (both down from November 2020). Only 10% think they would show no symptoms. Of those who had the virus, 43% said they were slightly ill, 38% were very ill, 7% were extremely sick, and 12% were asymptomatic.
A plurality of respondents (42%) thinks the media coverage has made the virus seem worse than it really is, while almost as many (38%) think the coverage has been accurate. A large majority of respondents (82%) report being vaccinated, up from 62% in May. Another 3% say they plan to be vaccinated, and 11% say they will not be vaccinated.
A plurality of voters (47%) thinks the response from the state government has been appropriate to slow the spread of the virus. For the first time, more respondents think the federal government’s response is appropriate (35%) rather than not going far enough (34%), but more than a quarter (26%) think the federal response has gone too far.
Analysis
“The common theme in U.S. elections in the past decade has been a ‘base election that will be decided on turnout.’ Virginia 2021 is no different,” said Harry Wilson, senior political analyst of the Roanoke College Poll. “McAuliffe has maintained his lead, but some of the underlying actors favor Youngkin and the Republicans. They hold an advantage in enthusiasm and, perhaps, a tiny advantage in likelihood to vote. Partisans on both sides are firmly entrenched in support of their candidate, Republicans perhaps more strongly than in 2017.”
“While polls taken after an election consistently show more support for winners than they received in the actual election, this poll shows a 17-point margin for Northam in 2017 when he won the election by 9 points. Partisans vote for their candidate in large numbers — usually 90% or more. That happened in 2017, and the results of this poll reflect that. The Independents in this poll have “shifted” toward the Republicans, but they report voting for Northam in 2017 in greater numbers than the 2017 exit poll suggests. We continue to use that exit poll as our benchmark because it is the only/best benchmark available. It is easy to say that the electorate won’t be the same four years later; it is much more difficult to define precisely how it will differ. We chose not to substitute our judgment for the exit poll.”
Methodology
Interviewing for The Roanoke College Poll was conducted by The Institute for Policy and Opinion Research at Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia, between September 12 and September 26, 2021. A total of 603 voters likely to vote in the gubernatorial election in Virginia were interviewed by random telephone calls to 412 respondents and 184 responses drawn from a proprietary online panel of Virginians. Telephone interviews were conducted in English and that sample was drawn from a list of registered voters compiled by L2 Political, a non-partisan provider. Participants were sampled from that list, which has phone numbers associated with approximately 72% of the registered voters in Virginia. The list included both landlines and cell phones. Cellphones constituted 45% of the completed phone interviews. The online panel of Virginians was facilitated by Lucid, LLC, a supplier of high-quality online respondents. Of the 381 panel participants, the 184 that were able to be matched to the L2 registered voter list were included in this study.
Likely voters were defined as registered to vote in Virginia and who are extremely likely or very likely to vote or have already voted in the November elections.
Questions answered by the entire sample of 603 residents are subject to a sampling error of plus or minus approximately 4.0% at the 95% level of confidence. This means that in 95 out of 100 samples like the one used here, the results obtained should be no more than 4.0% percentage points above or below the figure that would be obtained by interviewing all Virginia likely voters who have a home telephone or a cell phone. Where the results of subgroups are reported, the sampling error is higher.
Quotas were used for both the telephone mode and online mode to ensure that different age groups and regions of the Commonwealth were proportionately represented. The data were statistically weighted for gender, race, political party, and education. Weighting was done to match the modeled general and race demographics of the 2017 Virginia Gubernatorial Election. The margin of error was not adjusted to account for the design effect, 1.322, due to weighting; this would increase the margin of error to 4.59%.
The Institute follows the American Association for Public Opinion Research’s Code of Professional Ethics and Practices and is a charter member of that association’s Transparency Initiative.
A copy of the questionnaire, topline, and crosstabs may be found here.
More information about the Poll may be obtained by contacting Dr. Harry Wilson at wilson@roanoke.edu or (540) 302-6162 or contact the Roanoke College News Office at (540) 375-2282. The Roanoke College Poll is funded by Roanoke College as a public service.
(ROANOKE, VA) – As demand for COVID testing has continued to increase, Roanoke City and Alleghany Health Districts (RCAHD) has worked with the Central Office of the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) to identify opportunities to offer free COVID-19 testing at select locations over the next several weeks.
In the past week, as RCAHD has continued to see a surge in local COVID-19 cases, emergency departments and urgent care centers have been challenged to meet the demand for testing while trying to serve residents who need medical attention. All counties in Virginia are currently at a high level of transmission of COVID-19.
“We hope that these sites will supplement the network of existing testing sites, including pharmacies and doctor’s offices, to help address the recent surge in demand for testing,” said Mary Kate Bowser, DNP, RCAHD Nurse Manager.
“We have worked to provide these additional testing locations to accommodate our residents and to help our hospital emergency rooms, urgent care centers, and rescue squads focus on the care of people who are ill.” said Bowser.
The new drive-thru community testing sites which can accommodate 100 people per event will be held beginning on Tuesday, September 14 at:
• Salem Civic Center Parking Lot A on Tuesdays: 9/14, 9/21, 9/28, 10/5 and 10/12 from 4-7pm.
• Dabney S Lancaster Community College on Thursdays: 9/16, 9/30, 10/14 and 10/28 from 4-7pm.
• Fincastle Baptist Church on Mondays: 9/20, 10/4 and 10/18 from 3-6pm.
Additional local sites will be added as locations are secured. For an up-to-date list of all testing locations, visit https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/coronavirus/covid-19-testing-sites/.
While vaccination is the most effective strategy to end the pandemic, testing remains an important tool to help identify and monitor trends in COVID-19 infection. VDH recommends that the following people be tested for COVID-19:
• People with symptoms or signs of COVID-19, regardless of vaccination status.
• People who have been referred for COVID-19 testing by their healthcare provider or the state/local health department.
• Most people who have had close contact with someone known or suspected to have COVID-19.
o Fully vaccinated people should be tested 3-5 days following a known exposure to someone with suspected or confirmed COVID-19, even if you don’t have symptoms.
o People who are not fully vaccinated should be tested immediately after an exposure and again at 5-7 days following exposure if the first test is negative.
o People who tested positive for COVID-19 within the past 3 months and recovered do not need to get tested after exposure as long as they do not have symptoms.
• People who participate in activities that are higher risk for COVID-19 exposure (e.g., travel, attending large events where social distancing is not possible, or being in crowded indoor settings).
• People who plan to travel or who have recently returned from travel, with some exceptions for fully vaccinated people.
• People who are not fully vaccinated and who plan to visit people at high risk of developing severe COVID-19.
For more information about COVID-19 testing call (877) 829-4682, 8 a.m.-6 p.m., Monday-Saturday.
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — Zacarias Moussaoui remains the only person ever convicted in a U.S. court in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks. A behind-the-scenes look at the trial Thursday from its lead participants demonstrated how hard it was to bring it to justice.
Rob Spencer, the lead prosecutor on the Moussaoui case, recalled the battles he and others in the Justice Department fought to keep Moussaoui in civilian courts at a time when military prosecutors and others wanted him to face a tribunal at Guantanamo Bay.
“When things weren’t looking rosy for us on the prosecution, we would joke to each other that you could hear the Black Hawk helicopter coming to pick him up and take him to Gitmo,” Spencer recalled Thursday during an online panel hosted by federal prosecutors in Virginia. The forum was part of a commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, who presided over the case, said there were points during the trial that she and her clerks believed prosecutors wouldn’t even clear the first hurdle with the jury and be able to prove that Moussaoui was legally eligible for the death penalty.
“And then Moussaoui took the stand,” Brinkema said.
He claimed that he was supposed to have hijacked a fifth plane and flown it into the White House, a claim he later recanted. And on cross-examination, he reveled in the deaths, mocking victims and family members.
“He basically just blew their defense out of the water,” Brinkema said. “Once he started talking, I thought, ’He just lost them (the jury).”
Moussaoui was arrested in August 2001, before the attacks, when his efforts to obtain advanced flight training drew suspicion. He was charged in December as being a member of the al-Qaida conspiracy that carried out the attacks that killed 3,000 people.
It took years to work through various pretrial procedural issues, including a period where Moussaoui served as his own lawyer and filed handwritten screeds against the judge and others under the guise of legal motions. Appellate courts weighed in several times on how to handle classified evidence, including statements from al-Qaida leaders like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, which were obtained under enhanced interrogation techniques that many said were equivalent to torture.
Moussaoui actually pleaded guilty to the charges against him, so the 2006 trial was simply to determine whether his sentence would be life in prison or death. In the first phase of the trial, prosecutors had to prove that Moussaoui’s role in the conspiracy led to the deaths of Sept. 11 victims, making him eligible for the death penalty.
Once he was determined to be eligible, the jury then considered whether he deserved the death penalty.
The jury found him eligible for execution, but one of 12 jurors voted for life in prison rather than execution. That was enough to keep Moussaoui off death row; he’s serving a life sentence in Colorado.
Ed MacMahon, one of Moussaoui’s court-appointed lawyers, recalled that the only viable strategy was to tell the jury that Moussaoui was embellishing his role within al-Qaida, and that executing him would only give him the martyrdom he craved.
Moussaoui’s exact role in the Sept. 11 conspiracy remains imprecise. In broad strokes, Spencer said, Moussaoui’s guilt was obvious: He was receiving flight training that he had no rational reason to be taking, and he received $10,000 from Ramzi bin al-Shibh, a key member of the Sept. 11 plot, a month before the attack.
Spencer said prosecutors believed Moussaoui was to serve as a backup pilot to Ziad Jarrah, the Flight 93 pilot who left the U.S. in the summer of 2001 to visit his girlfriend and may have been having second thoughts about participating.
“I don’t know what role, if any, he would have served on 9/11 or perhaps a follow-on plot,” Spencer said. “We never had to answer that question.”
Despite the difficulties in bringing Moussaoui to trial, Brinkema, Spencer and MacMahon all agreed that the case ultimately demonstrates the ability of the judicial system to bring the cases to conclusion, something that has yet to happen with bin al-Shibh or Mohammed, who remain at Guantanamo.
“It’s amazing to me that the rest of the culprits in this case have not been brought to justice.,” Brinkema said.
Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Raj Parekh, who moderated Thursday’s panel, called the Moussaoui prosecution “one of the most significant in our nation’s history.
“We are holding this event not only to share the lessons of the Moussaoui case, but also to recognize and reflect upon the role of the justice system in responding to the tragic events of Sept. 11,” he said.