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A Fairfax County juvenile court judge barred the public Monday from a hearing in the high-profile case of a teenager charged with killing a Reston couple shortly before Christmas. Judge Thomas P. Sotelo agreed to a motion to close the hearing after Fairfax County public defender Dawn M. Butorac said it could feature “sensitive information” about her 17-year-old client, who is charged with shooting and killing Scott Fricker, 48, and Buckley Kuhn-Fricker, 43, in their home on Dec. 22. A Washington Post reporter registered an objection to the motion. Under Virginia law, juvenile court hearings are open to the public if the defendant was at least 14 years old at the time of the offense, and the offense would be a felony if the juvenile were charged as an adult. However, a judge can close a hearing “for good cause shown.” Butorac said the hearing might feature information about previous charges against the teen.
The Washington Post
According to police records, the Bristol Tennessee Police Department was called when Fred Bounds began to destroy his mother’s home. She wanted him to stop drinking, so he threatened to kill her and broke a light fixture. Bounds admitted to the destruction but resisted arrest, biting two different officers as they tried to arrest him. Officer Brittney Matney used her P26X Taser in drive-stun mode on the middle of Bounds’ back three times before he was handcuffed. BTPD shared six reports with the Bristol Herald Courier for incidents where a Taser was used and the criminal investigation is closed. The documents ranged from 18 to 41 pages. In all cases, reports say the person who was stunned was resisting or evading arrest or a traffic stop. And in all cases, supervisors deemed the use of force warranted. The Washington County Virginia Sheriff’s Office released the preliminary investigative report for four incidents in which a Taser was used last year. The narrative section of each report was redacted, but Capt. Scott Snapp gave the Bristol Herald Courier a verbal summary of each instance. All four instances were justified, according to Capt. Snapp. BVPD is currently investigating whether the use of a Taser was warranted at an incident at Cabela’s. Such an investigation is considered part of the officer’s personnel records and will not be released publicly.
Bristol Herald Courier
The Culpeper County School Board decided during its Monday work session to publicly release its attorney’s advice on instituting prayers before its meetings. Board member Marshall Keene (Stevensburg District) made a motion to release the memo prepared by board attorney Rodney Young in response to his January proposal to open school board meetings with a prayer or invocation. On Monday, Betsy Smith (Cedar Mountain District) wanted to know how much the division had already spent on the attorney’s expertise. Superintendent Tony Brads said earlier advice cost about $8,000 and that didn’t include preparation of the written memo. The superintendent said he expects the total to range from $10,000 to $12,000. Keene said he hoped sharing the legal advice would garner more public input and inform the board as to a direction to take. Brads said the memo would not be posted on the division’s website, but would be available to anyone requesting it under the Freedom of Information Act. He added that board members could release it to constituents who reach out asking to review the document.
Culpeper Star-Exponent
If Henrico County Deputy County Manager Doug Middleton was frustrated before, he's even more exasperated now. Back in January, Middleton posted a sign on his office door alerting folks to the number of days it had been since he submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. He finally got a response more than 100 days after submitting the request, but it was not what he wanted to hear. The feds denied his request for information. Middleton wants to see documents, drawings and plans related to the scope of work proposed by the new owner of the now beleaguered section 8 housing complex formerly known as Essex Village. In their interim response to Middleton, HUD said they denied his request because it contained a package submitted to the agency that is currently under agency review and pending agency decision.
WTVR
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