Hung No More
What happens if a jury finds a murderer guilty but comes to an impasse on sentencing? Virginia is one of the few states that allows juries to sentence criminals, and it’s also one of the few states that has this particular problem. The way it works now is that the hung jury in the sentencing phase sends prosecutors back to the square one, calling a new trial and issuing subpoenas to the same witnesses to come back and start all over again.
One bill now making its way through Richmond would change that, allowing courts to impanel a new jury that would consider only the sentencing phase. Introduced by Del. Gregory Habeeb (R-8), the bill has already been signed by the House speaker and the Senate president.
“The difficulties that prompted it are where you have a complicated murder case and it takes you a week to try it and you have all these witnesses who are not particularly happy to testify,” said Alexandria Commonwealth’s Attorney Randy Sengel. “This makes it easier to conclude those cases and having to retry them.”
Sengel said the problem has come up in recent years, although it happened in relatively minor property crimes. In other parts of the commonwealth, hung juries have been called in more serious cases such as murder or sexual assault. That’s why the Virginia Association of Commonwealths Attorneys threw its support behind the measure this year.
A similar bill passed the General Assembly a few years ago but was vetoed by Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine. Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell is expected to sign it.
Fighting Traffic
Although he’s moved to the other side of the Capitol, state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-30) hasn’t given up his fight against human trafficking. As a four-term member of the House of Delegates, Ebbin made the crusade somewhat of a signature issue.
This year, he’s back at it — and receiving unanimous support in a fiercely divided General Assembly. Senate Bill 259 requires the Virginia Board of Education to provide awareness and training materials for local school divisions on human trafficking, including strategies for preventing the trafficking of children.
“In other states, there have actually been cases where students have been trafficked on evenings and weekends if you can believe it,” said Ebbin. “Sometimes the actual recuiters for this are other girls themselves, hard as that is to believe, and so people like guidance counselors should be made aware of this.”
The bill has been passed by the House and Senate and is on the way to the Governor’s Mansion.
Guns and Butter
Alexandria Vice Mayor Kerry Donley was once the chairman of the Democratic Party of Virginia, and since returning to city politics he hasn’t lost his partisan edge. Take this week, for example.
During a discussion of the General Assembly session, Donley took a moment to decry the budget negotiations. Senate Democrats and Republicans are at an impasse, unable to find common ground after a series of high-stakes squabbles about limitations on handgun sales and availability of abortion. As the session winds down, many are starting to believe that legislators will leave Richmond without adopting a budget, a scenario that Donley says will make it difficult for City Hall to calculate its budget without knowing how much state aid it can expect.
“Their inability to do their job makes it harder for us to do our job, and I find that disconcerting,” said Donley. “The budget doesn’t have anything to do with handguns and it doesn’t have anything to do with reproductive rights. Get over it, and get it done.”