A Different Type Of Road Rage

A public admonition with terms from a subcommittee of the Virginia State Bar Disciplinary Board.

The attorney – then a prosecutor in Norfolk County – was driving with his girlfriend from Charlottesville to Chesapeake and an “ongoing altercation” took place during the drive,  He was drinking both beer and wine.

During the argument, the attorney pulled a firearm from the center console and placed it on his lap. He and the girlfriend struggled as he sought to locate bullets. She was able to secure the firearm away from him.

When they arrived at her residence, he struck her in the chest.

She called police.

A special prosecutor was appointed and the attorney was convicted of misdemeanor brandishing of a firearm.

He appealed that conviction but later pled guilty to misdemeanor assault and battery.

The Daily Press reported that he was employed by the Attorney General’s office.

In a criminal complaint filed in Newport News, the woman said she was a passenger in Haugh’s SUV at 10:30 p.m. on Feb. 3 as he drove down I-64 East.

The couple was arguing as they passed the Denbigh Walmart, she wrote, when Haugh “reached into the middle compartment and removed his gun and placed it on his lap.”

He then put the gun — later identified as a Smith & Wesson .38-caliber revolver — back into the console, and “reached behind my seat and into a bag and pulled out a container of bullets,” she wrote.

“I screamed, ‘What are you doing,’ and tried to grab the container, and he yanked it back as the car was swerving,” she wrote. Fearing Haugh might have gotten a bullet, she wrote, she “quickly reached into the console and grabbed the gun,” and shoved it near the passenger door.

“During this time he was yelling and cussing violently and drinking,” she wrote, adding that she “remained silent as not to provoke him.”

When they got close to her Chesapeake home, she wrote, Haugh punched her in the chest with his right hand.

The woman said she took her things — and Haugh’s handgun — and got out of his car. She said she left the gun on her porch before going inside and calling police. Haugh drove away before police arrived, leaving his gun behind.

Chesapeake Police charged Haugh with assault and battery. The woman went to the Newport News magistrate’s office the next day and swore out a warrant for the brandishing charge. Both are class 1 misdemeanors, punishable by up to a year in jail.

Haugh — who had no prior criminal record — turned himself in that day.

Haugh had worked at the Hampton prosecutor’s office for 21 years. He was chief deputy there for 13 years, and served as the city’s acting top prosecutor for five months in 2012. He was widely seen as a steady hand in the office and was respected by judges, defense lawyers and prosecutors alike for his professionalism and demeanor.

Haugh left Hampton in 2013 to become deputy prosecutor in Louisa County. He came back to Hampton Roads two years later, taking the job with the Virginia Attorney General’s office in 2015. He was assigned to Norfolk, handling gun, drug and violent crime cases before being fired in February.

With the charges now resolved, Clancy said Haugh “is exploring all his career options,” including resurrecting his legal career.

The Virginian-Pilot also reported on the criminal case and noted that the victim was a co-worker. (Mike Frisch)