The defense for Jesse Matthew Jr., now on trial for the murder of University of Virginia student Hannah Graham, filed three motions to the Albemarle Circuit Court September 8. While two of the three motions are frequently seen in cases where the death penalty is sought, the defense’s third is a rarity.
Graham went missing a year ago on September 13, after being last seen with Matthew. Her body was discovered more than a month later in North Garden, and Matthew faces capital murder charges in Albemarle County.
His defense, in addition to requesting that Judge Cheryl Higgins be removed from any rulings related to search warrants and requesting a prison violence risk assessment, filed a motion requesting the identities and addresses of members of the grand jury for the past four years.
C-VILLE’s legal expert David Heilberg says of the unusual motion, “I’ve not seen it in any kind of case, not even a death case until now.” Heilberg adds that while there are case laws preventing racial discrimination for the selection of a regular jury, these laws do not apply to the grand jury.
“We don’t know what the constitutional procedures are [for the grand jury],” Heilberg says. “The laws are very flexible. … They seem to be designed to get indictments.”
Heilberg suggests that if this weren’t a capital case, only a wealthy defense would pursue the same motion.
“It’s an attempt to slow the machinery of death,” he notes. “It’s intended to slow or stop the death process or to create leverage to negotiate. That’s really what it’s aimed at.”
If the motion proves unconstitutional practices in the grand jury selection process, Heilberg says it would likely only result in a delay in Matthew’s case.
“I think all that could happen is that they would try to constitute the grand jury in a different way and then they would reindict him,” Heilberg explains. “He’s not going anywhere at this point.”