Transparency News, 2/25/21

Virginia lawmakers demanded answers Wednesday from Gov. Ralph Northam’s administration and the state’s government watchdog agency following a news report that raised new questions about the state parole board’s handling of the case of a man convicted of killing a Richmond police officer. Richmond TV station WTVR reported Tuesday night that it had obtained a previously unreleased version of an investigative report produced by the Office of the State Inspector General into the case of Vincent Martin. Martin was released last year after serving four decades in prison for the 1979 killing of Officer Michael Connors. A different report into Martin’s case by the inspector general’s office was made public late last year. That six-page report found that the Virginia Parole Board and its former chairwoman, Adrianne Bennett, violated state law and its own policies and procedures in handling Martin’s case. But the version of the report obtained by WTVR, and later obtained by The Associated Press, contained more critical conclusions and allegations about errors made in the case. The reasons for the substantial differences in the content were not immediately clear. Kate Hourin, the communications director for the IG’s office, said in a statement that the agency had previously released “accurate final reports” regarding the parole board. “OSIG wants to emphasize that any draft OSIG report involving the Parole Board that was recently disclosed to the news media was released without the consent of OSIG. OSIG is taking appropriate action to identify the person(s) responsible for improperly disclosing such information,” she said in a statement. 
Associated Press
Two Virginia senators are asking for a “clear and transparent” General Assembly investigation into alleged wrongdoing by the Virginia Parole Board, which is under scrutiny for failing to follow state law and its own procedures by releasing violent offenders without properly notifying victims’ families or the prosecutors who represent the communities where the crimes were committed. Sens. Bryce Reeves, R-Spotsylvania, and John Bell, D-Loudoun, released a letter Wednesday calling on Senate leaders to create a select committee, armed with subpoena powers and the ability to take sworn testimony, to take another look at findings by the Office of the State Inspector General that Parole Board leaders violated state law.  The Mercury obtained unredacted copies of six other watchdog reports, which had not previously been released in full, detailing numerous missteps by the Parole Board last year. Like the Martin case, nearly all dealt with the board’s seeming disregard for the notification process required before inmates are granted parole and released. Redacted copies of those reports had been released to the media last year.
Virginia Mercury

The general public can once again search the Loudoun Circuit Court database without an appointment. While the public was kept out of courtrooms for about three months, people have never been restricted from visiting the Circuit Court to conduct business like obtaining a concealed carry permit or marriage license or search case files—they’ve just been required to make appointments. But as of this month, those wanting to search case files can once again do so without an appointment. Clerk of the Circuit Court Gary Clemens and his staff recently added two more computers outside the Circuit Court office doors, near the elevators on the top floor across from the courtrooms. Clemens said that while he knew making appointments to search case files “wasn’t the best convenience,” the measure was needed to keep people from clustering together in the “really tight” Circuit Court office.
Loudoun Now
 

Newly disclosed documents from inside the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan capture a sense of panic and dread among prosecutors and their supervisors as one of their cases collapsed last year amid allegations of government misconduct. The materials include a rare look at sensitive emails and text messages between junior prosecutors and their overseers after a federal judge began to inquire about lapses that ultimately led the Justice Department to abandon a conviction in a case it had already won. Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York wrote each other in March 2020 that “yeah, we lied” in a letter to Judge Alison Nathan about a key document it had failed to share with defense lawyers. The office later retreated from that characterization, arguing instead the trouble resulted from a rush to file papers under a tight deadline.
NPR