Category: Courts and law
-
Virginia State Policy Guidance Discourages Reporting of Gang-Related Assaults in Schools
By James C. Sherlock Over the last four years I always found it necessary to monitor the workings and products of both the Virginia Board of Education (BOE) appointed by two Democratic Governors and Governor Northam’s Virginia Department of Education (VDOE). The amount of radical and objectively dangerous policy that came out of that system…
-
Fairfax County and Protection of Supreme Court Justices Revisited
by James C. Sherlock In response to the adjacent exhortation by Fairfax County from its home page, I am speaking up. Defend the homes of the Supreme Court Justices who live in your county. I offer breaking news to many who only read and watch progressive media, including the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. Justice Kavanaugh…
-
A Proposal to Mitigate Gun Violence
by Dick Hall-Sizemore In an interesting development, one of the so-called “progressive” Virginia prosecutors has identified a direct link between someone committing misdemeanor offenses and later committing violent felony offenses. The misdemeanor offenses that are predictors are gun offenses. After tracking violent case histories, Ramin Fatehi, the commonwealth’s attorney for Norfolk, as reported by WAVY…
-
Instant Background Checks for Gun Purchases – What is Checked and Who Populates the Databases?
by James C. Sherlock The FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is much discussed and little understood by the general public. In an effort to help, this article will inform readers about the NICS Indices, what information is kept there and how it gets there. The information here about the NICS is quoted or…
-
Red Flags in Fairfax County
by James C. Sherlock Restorative justice (RJ) in Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) and Commonwealth Attorney Steve Descano’s progressive “reforms” of the criminal justice system had better work. Because they virtually eliminate the very records of criminal and mentally disturbed misconduct by juveniles needed to support gun-purchase background checks. FCPS asserts that their RJ system…
-
“Frequent Flyers” Are Not Harbingers of Anarchy
by Dick Hall-Sizemore In a recent article on this blog, Jim Bacon cited the case of Ronald Thomas as a possible harbinger of a “descent into anarchy.” One commenter cited 13 prior charges, many of which were “nol prossed”. Just looking at a list of charges and their results can be misleading. It is necessary…
-
A Gun Owner’s Suggestion for Virginia Gun Laws
By James C. Sherlock I was a career military man. I am a conservative and a gun owner. As a younger man, I won competitive awards for marksmanship with both rifle and pistol. I own a semi-automatic Glock for home protection. I train regularly and at almost 77 can still hit what I aim at.…
-
The Mercy Seat
Author Dale M. Brumfield’s new book chronicles the abolishment of Virginia’s death penalty. by Peter Galuszka Style Weekly In 2015, Dale M. Brumfield, a veteran journalist and author, was finishing a masters degree in fine art in writing at Virginia Commonwealth University. He learned of a prison inmate who escaped from Virginia to Florida, lived…
-
Miyares Wins Partial Transparency Victory
by Steve Haner Attorney General Jason Miyares (R) was partially successful in his efforts to challenge much of the secrecy shielding key data in Dominion Energy Virginia’s application to build its planned offshore wind facility, with some useful precedents set for the future. Just before the hearings on the application began last week, a State…
-
Virginia Supreme Court Gives Hope to Competitors of Regional Healthcare Monopolies
Is the Virginia Antitrust Act now in play? by James C. Sherlock There is good news this morning for those of us hoping for more competition to regional healthcare monopolies in Virginia. The Virginia Supreme Court (the Court) overturned the decision of the State Health Commissioner to deny the application of the Chesapeake Regional Medical Center…
-
Silence of the Trumpets
by Jim McCarthy Criminal justice at the local level in Virginia is the province of the 120 Commonwealth’s attorney offices funded primarily by the state, with some also receiving local supplement. Indigent defendants may avail themselves of the Sixth Amendment right to counsel through 28 public defender offices. Many other indigent defendants will be represented…
-
Bad News For Deadbeat Dads: Virginia’s Coming For You
by Kerry Dougherty One of the first things Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares did after arriving in Richmond was meet with various departments in the AG’s office. “I asked, ‘Do you have all of the tools to do your job with excellence?” Miyares recalled Wednesday morning on the “Kerry and Mike” morning radio show on…
-
A Lot of Unanswered Questions
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Painting racial slurs on the face of an unconscious Black teenage boy is wrong. That being said, a recent incident in the Richmond area leads to a lot of questions, including concerning the quality of reporting done by the Richmond Times-Dispatch. According to an RTD on-line story Friday by reporter Mark Bowes,…
-
What are We Doing to Ourselves with the Criminal Justice System?
by James C. Sherlock I will share a press release this week from the Justice Department. Convicted Felon Pleads Guilty to Fraud, Identity Theft, and Firearm Offenses We’ll try to figure out at what point we lost our minds about law enforcement.
-
The Latest Wrinkle in the Law-Enforcement-for-Rent Saga
by James A. Bacon The Office of Attorney General (OAG) under former AG Mark Herring failed to adequately conduct a search for documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act by climate-change skeptic Christopher Horner, a Richmond Circuit Court Judge has found. The court ordered the OAG, now under Attorney General Jason Miyares, to conduct…