A three judge panel of the Lancaster County (Virginia) Circuit Court accepted an agreed year and a day suspension of the county’s elected Commonwealths Attorney.

The misconduct involved criminal charges brought for a fatal boating accident

The mishap occurred at night and there were no eye-witnesses other than [defendant] Mr. Hooper who claimed to have no recollection of events surrounding the mishap.

Respondent recognized that there would be significant weaknesses in the Commonwealth’s case and therefore believed that justice could best be served by negotiating a plea agreement. In furtherance of that belief, Respondent negotiated a plea agreement that provided for conviction on two felonies, a sentence of 15 years of incarceration with all but 14 years suspended ( one year of active jail time to be served in the local jail).

On or about 9 June 2020, Respondent had a brief discussion with the judge during which he informed the judge that the Commonwealth and the defense had reached a proposed plea agreement and discussed the date for presenting the plea agreement. In the course of the discussion, Respondent generally discussed Respondent’s motivations for entering into the plea agreement and the judge made a non-committal statement regarding the difficulty the Commonwealth faces in prosecuting cases.

Disclosure to victim’s parents of the proposed plea

The decedent’s parents and Mr. Woodson [the property owner where the body was found]all expressed dismay at the proposed plea agreement, stating that the believed that it was too lenient.

The attorney disclosed the discussion with the judge to the victim, leading to the judge’s recusal

As the result of Mr. Woodson’s letter, the judge recused himself, stating that Respondent’s statement to Mr. Woodson wrongfully and inaccurately suggested that the he had pre-judged the case based on information improperly communicated to him by Respondent. He  further noted that he was recusing himself to protect the integrity of the judicial system and to avoid even the appearance of impropriety.