Month: March 2018

Categories
News

Gallery Court Hotel rises out of Excel Inn’s ashes

Plans for the new Gallery Court Hotel bear no resemblance to the historic motor court style of the 1950s that the structure replaces. Submitted image

By Natalie Jacobsen

On May 4 of last year, Charlottesville was rocked by the images and news that the long-standing Excel Inn & Suites was ablaze. The Emmet Street landmark was deemed unsalvageable, and the owners, Vipul and Manisha Patel, closed the hotel immediately and indefinitely following the devastating fire.

Now the Patel family has a new proposal, which they brought to the City Planning Commission March 14. They are seeking a special permit to build a seven-story, 72-room, 75,000-square-foot replacement: “a boutique hotel aptly named the Gallery Court Hotel,” says Vipul Patel.

The name recalls Excel Inn’s original name, Gallery Court Motor Hotel, which was erected in 1951. A special permit is required for any building proposal that exceeds 60 feet within Charlottesville city limits. The Patels want an 80-foot ceiling cap.

The Gallery Court Hotel is just one of several proposed projects along the Emmet corridor. The University of Virginia’s Cavalier Inn and The Villa Diner across the street will be razed as part of the area’s makeover.

Patel acknowledged the evolving area, stating in the proposal that the building would be aligned with the exterior vision of surrounding UVA structures.

“The hotel is consistent with the city’s architectural character,” says Patel, and will include expanded pedestrian areas to accommodate students and the growing number
of visitors.

Christine French, an architectural historian and graduate of UVA, says the design “looks just like anything else anymore these days. Monolithic, beige and not following any historical architecture precedents.” Charlottesville removed many older buildings of historical importance in the late ’90s to make way for these modern designs, she says.

Excel Inn’s claim to fame was housing Martin Luther King Jr. during his stay in Charlottesville in 1963 after he was invited to lecture at UVA, when the motel was one of the few places that would accommodate African-Americans in segregated Charlottesville. It is not yet known how, or if, the Patels will acknowledge his visit in
the new design.

Says French, “Excel Inn has never been acknowledged as a landmark for hosting Dr. King. Maybe now the impact of his stay will be taken seriously in a historical context.” She floated ideas of an exhibit or profound commemoration, though without the original building, she says, history is being erased. “Charlottesville is not just about Thomas Jefferson—a lot of movement happened in the ’50s and ’60s. That’s important, too.”

The Patel family acquired the hotel fewer than 20 years after King’s stay, in 1981, from former owners Herbert Monte Jr. and George and Nell Eby, while passing through Charlottesville on a trip.

Despite the 10-month setback from the fire, they are looking at this optimistically. “We find comfort in knowing that this is not the end, but the opportunity for a new beginning,” says Patel.

“The ownership and operation of this family business was our real-life American Dream…owning [it] gave us a purpose and vision for the future,” he says.

For the time being, the Patels will have to wait for their special permit to be granted before they can move forward with the demolition and subsequent construction. No timeline for voting or construction has been announced.

Categories
News

In brief: Downtown CODE, white supremacists settle, subsidized Ting and more

What’s the CODE?

A new rendering and name have been given to local angel investor Jaffray Woodriff’s tech incubator scheduled to take out the Main Street Arena sometime this summer. The Center of Developing Entrepreneurs—or, aptly named CODE—will be situated at the west entrance of the Downtown Mall and will house between 15 and 25 businesses.

Woodriff aims to “bring together innovators in a multi-tenant building, stimulating economic activity and increasing employment,” according to a press release.

The ice park closes March 31, and construction on the new 170,000-square-foot building in its place is expected to be finished by 2020. It’ll feature an open-air, pedestrian walkway so Downtown Mallers can still access Water Street without obstruction. And the mall entryway to the entrepreneurial hot spot’s main lobby will lead to several new retail spaces.

The secondary Water Street entrance will serve as a co-work area and a 200-seat auditorium for tenants and community events.

And don’t forget the parking—CODE will include bicycle storage, electric vehicle charging stations and one level of underground parking that will easily be convertible to office space “in anticipation of evolving transportation trends.”

“I’d like to have the confidence and the trust that when my phone rings it’s not going to be a robocaller and it’s not going to be a political ad and it’s not going to be a spoofed phone number.”—Nest Realty agent Jim Duncan to “CBS This Morning,” in a segment about whether the government should interfere with increased robocalls

Adios, LOSers

The neo-Confederate League of the South has agreed not to return to Charlottesville should there be another Unite the Right rally. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the league and its officers, who are named in a suit brought by a Georgetown Law institute, admit no wrongdoing. Nearly two dozen defendants were named in the suit, and Jason Kessler tweeted that he won’t settle because he’d have to agree to not countersue.

A Ting thing

Most people in town are privy to the “crazy fast fiber internet” service, but not everyone can afford the $89 a month price tag. City Councilor Wes Bellamy is proposing a $150,400 city subsidy that would allow public-housing residents to pay only $10 a month for the service. Comcast has an affordable internet program at the same price.

Dewberry grows

The Board of Architectural Review okayed an extra floor and more mass last week for the Downtown Mall’s unwanted landmark, the skeletal structure that’s blighted the landscape since 2009. Now known as the Dewberry Charlottesville, the proposed hotel may add an 11th floor and 17 more rooms.

Manic motorists

Virginia State Police responded to 382 traffic crashes and assisted with 242 disabled or struck vehicles during the March 21 snowstorm, further proving that Virginians aren’t known for their ability to drive well in inclement weather.

False advertising

The 425 highway signs in the state that say, “Speed limit enforced by aircraft,” are all lying, according to the Bristol Herald Courier, which reports that Virginia State Police haven’t aerially enforced the speed limit for more than five years.

Categories
Living

As spring blooms, beware of flowers toxic to pets

Cat owners should avoid keeping lilies in their homes and their gardens because the plants, flowers and even pollen are dangerous to their pets.

It’s not yet safe to think that spring has fully sprung, but as the occasional warm days sneak back onto the calendar, it’s hard to resist cracking the windows and cleaning the house in preparation for brighter weather. In my case, that optimistic spirit invariably leads to the purchase of a few houseplants. Ignoring all prior experience, I believe this just has to be the year in which I’ll finally keep them alive for more than a week and a half.

If you live with animals, your choice of botanical decor should depend on more than just appearances. Unfortunately, some of the most beautiful plants are also the most dangerous. Those fiery tiger lilies might look fantastic in the garden, and the Easter lily on your kitchen table might be appropriate for the holiday, but they are outright deadly to cats.

Although it’s been known for some time, it remains unclear exactly why lilies are so poisonous to cats. The offending compound hasn’t been identified, but it makes quick work of a cat’s kidneys when ingested, even in a small amount. It doesn’t matter if they chew on the leaves, stem or petals. There is even evidence that the plant’s pollen is as toxic as the plant itself. Regardless, it only takes a few hours for symptoms to kick in, and fatal kidney failure follows within a day or two.

If a cat is caught in the act, prompt treatment to empty the stomach and provide hospitalized supportive care can save its life. But because lilies are often grown outdoors, ingestion frequently goes unrecognized until the damage is done. These cases may still benefit from aggressive treatment, but the prognosis is sadly more doubtful.

Oddly, cats are the only animals known to be affected by this particular toxicity. Other animals, including dogs, can eat these plants with only a bit of stomach upset to show for it.

Adding further confusion is the fact that not all lilies are lilies. Not technically, at any rate. The lily of the valley belongs to an entirely different family of plant and doesn’t cause renal failure in cats. But don’t relax just yet. Instead, it contains compounds called glycosides that can disrupt the normal function of the heart.

Still other pretenders include peace lilies and calla lilies. These unrelated plants are also toxic, but in a far lesser sense. Instead, they contain microscopic crystals called oxalates that can cause serious inflammation of the mouth, throat and stomach when ingested. They won’t kill anybody, but they can leave curious pets with a mouthful of regret.

I suppose it’s nice to know that not all lilies are cat killers, but the others still deal their share of damage. When it comes to preparing my home for spring, I think I’ll just leave any lilies out of it. It’s clearly the safest choice for my pets’ well-being. And given my track record with plants, it’s probably best for the lilies as well.

Dr. Mike Fietz is a small-animal veterinarian at Georgetown Veterinary Hospital. He received his veterinary degree from Cornell University in 2003 and has lived in Charlottesville since.

Categories
Arts

‘Feminine Likeness’ explores two sides of the canvas

Paul Trebilcock’s “Mia Sposa, 1929” is on exhibit in “Feminine Likeness: Portraits of Women by American Artists, 1809-1950” at The Fralin Museum of Art through April 29. Courtesy of The Fralin Museum of Art

Standing in The Fralin Museum of Art at UVA, surrounded by paintings from across the 19th and 20th centuries, you notice something about the passage of time in the museum’s current exhibition, “Feminine Likeness: Portraits of Women by American Artists, 1809-1950.” There’s a subtle shift as years slip by, a transformation in the representation of femininity and codes of womanhood.

But if the work makes it seem that artists do the representing, you’re only seeing half the story. “It was always a give and take between artists and the people being painted,” says curator Jennifer Camp. “A lot of these portraits reflect the self-representation of the sitter as much as the representation or painting by the artist.”

In other words, the faces of women on display don’t belong exclusively to those who wield the brush. It’s a dialogue that echoes changing norms on both sides of the canvas.

Camp, who is the Barringer-Lindner Curatorial Fellow at The Fralin and a Ph.D. candidate in history of American art and architecture at UVA, sees the collection as an opportunity for viewers to consider how they present themselves to the world “via imagery, or art, or even something as silly as the selfie,” she says.

Camp has long been fascinated by 20th- century American art, which stands at the nexus of social and visual experimentation.

“When you study American art, one of the first things you learn about is the Armory Show, which was a huge exhibition in New York that upended the art world and created all sorts of scandals,” she says. “It was where people were first introduced to cubism as well as other avant-garde movements.”

Camp’s interest in the shifts of social and cultural expectations, as well as visual language used by artists, led to the concept of “Feminine Likeness.”

As part of her fellowship, Camp was tasked with putting together an exhibition that draws from The Fralin’s collection. Under the mentorship of former curator Rebecca Schoenthal, she developed a show that features portrait painters such as Thomas Sully, Rembrandt Peale, George Luks and others. Through changes in fashion, accessories, facial expression and pose, the images on view reveal changes in expectations for women themselves.

“In the 19th century, only the very wealthiest people could typically afford [portraits],” says Camp. “Portraiture was very much about the accurate likeness, about conveying status and wealth. …Mather Brown shows a woman holding a letter. Letter writing was a sign of decorum as well as education.

“In the 20th century, you see a shift towards a brighter pallet, looser brush strokes, some more inventive posing. Henry Glintenkamp, the 1920s artist who has the final portrait of the show, depicts an older woman sort of staring off into the distance, surrounded by these small vignettes that seem to be depicting scenes from her life. It’s done in the very sort of cubist manner, with jagged lines, harsh angles, deep shadows and kind of distorted proportions. He’s less interested in straightforward naturalism and more interested in the inner character of this woman, in her feelings and emotions.”

Camp sees this shift as a response not only to the growing accessibility of photography, which rendered exact likenesses with ease, but women’s changing status in society. In the 1920s, she points out, women had recently gained the right to vote, and flappers were considered much more liberated than their mothers and grandmothers.

“The audience response to art can tell you a lot about whether the culture at large is ready for that idea,” Camp says. “It’s interesting to think about whether or not art can actually be a vehicle for social change. Why or why not?”

Categories
Arts

Movie review: Pacific Rim Uprising stomps through subplots

The monster battle sequel Pacific Rim Uprising is flashier than its predecessor, but also boring. Courtesy Universal Pictures

Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim—like pretty much all of his films, including The Shape of Water—was a tribute to the genres he loved that lack mainstream recognition, in this case a fusion of Toho kaiju monsters and mech suit anime where there is as much drama inside the suits as there is out, most notably Gundam and “Neon Genesis Evangelion.” It was quite a lot of fun, where even the most valid complaints, like flat characterizations and rushed exposition with lore that is never fully explained were intentional and genre-appropriate. The only problem it could not escape was the frustrating decision to stage all of the fights at night in the rain, thereby obscuring the creature and mecha design and dulling what ought to have been the greatest visual treat of 2013.

Its sequel, Pacific Rim Uprising (directed by Steven S. DeKnight), has none of the nerdy charm of its predecessor, and expands the lore while cheapening its effectiveness. But at least you can see what’s happening this time. Pick your poison.

Pacific Rim Uprising
PG-13, 110 minutes
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX, Violet Crown Cinema

The story picks up 10 years after the war against the kaiju has been won. Some cities have been rebuilt, others are still lying in rubble. An underground economy has formed around the theft of tech found in the abandoned mecha, known as jagers.

Jake Pentecost (John Boyega), the son of war hero and legendary jager pilot Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba, of the previous film), lives in this world, staying one step ahead of being caught by the criminals he does business with and the authorities who tolerate him so long as he minimizes the trouble he causes. When a heist goes wrong, he encounters Amara Namani (Cailee Spaeny), a teenage tech prodigy who has illegally built her own miniature jager in preparation for if the kaiju come back. The pair are caught by the authorities, and are given a deal: Go to prison, or join the fight in an official capacity, as trainer and cadet.

Many of the performances are solid despite being one-dimensional characters, but that is not something you can hold against this film any more than you can against the original. Spaeny shows tremendous promise in her ability to bring raw emotion to Amara; she is driven by revenge, but her personality is not reduced to a bundle of raw nerves. She’s a believable teenager given the way growing up in this world has shaped her. Boyega is charming as ever, though the role rests entirely on his screen presence. Scott Eastwood finally feels like he belongs in movies like this instead of being there because some super agent insisted, and Charlie Day is better utilized here than he was in the original.

Then there are the monster fights. Yep, they’re pretty dang cool and look great, but why they’re happening is far less engaging than in the first Pacific Rim, which had charm and inspiration to carry it across other flaws that might exist. It was a statement in its own right, while Uprising as a sequel is entirely conventional. It can be engaging moment- to-moment, but is instantly forgettable. And through it all is the why factor: In the first film, they need to save people from monsters. Great! Thrilling! Why is any of it really happening? Who cares? There are monsters that need punching! Here, there’s stuff about alien races, blood, rare earths and corporate conspiracies that only delay the appearance of monsters or robots, which are the entire reason you bought the ticket in the first place.

On a final note: Please, studios and filmmakers, when releasing sequels, please make the subtitle memorable in its own right. Imagine if people only said “Uprising,” would anyone know what movie you’re talking about? And it’s exhausting to cycle through, trying to remember if this one is Redemption, Revelations or Origins.

Playing this week

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema
377 Merchant Walk Sq., 326-5056

A Wrinkle in Time, Black Panther, Coal Miner’s Daughter, Game Night, Love, Simon, Nine to Five, Ready Player One, Sherlock Gnomes, Tomb Raider

Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX
The Shops at Stonefield, 244-3213 z

Days in Entebbe, A Wrinkle in Time, Black Panther, The Greatest Showman, I Can Only Imagine, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Love, Simon, Midnight Sun, Paul, Apostle of Christ, Peter Rabbit, Ready Player One, Red Sparrow, Sherlock Gnomes, The Strangers: Prey at Night, Tomb Raider, Unsane

Violet Crown Cinema
200 W. Main St., Downtown Mall, 529-3000

A Fantastic Woman, A Wrinkle in Time, Annihilation, Black Panther, Game Night, Love, Simon, The Party, Red Sparrow, Sherlock Gnomes, Tomb Raider, Unsane

Categories
Arts

Live music venue The Ante Room folds for now

The Ante Room, operated by Jeyon Falsini, will close its doors on March 31, due to the demolition of the Main Street Arena complex. Falsini hopes to relocate the popular live-music venue and continue his support of local musicians, particularly hip-hop and metal acts, such hard rock and metal band Congenial Crime, pictured here. Photo by Tristan Williams

A music venue is a strange place to be in the middle of the day. A club is designed for the nighttime, with its dark walls, ceilings and stages meant to be illuminated not by the sun but by bright lights, coming alive when bodies are in the room and music is in the air.

This is true at The Ante Room, where, on a sunny Thursday, Jeyon Falsini sits in an office chair, wearing jeans and a black and white T-shirt bearing the logo of Richmond hip-hop collective Gritty City Records. Falsini crosses his arms and tips back in his chair.

“It’s been fun,” he says, looking around the room at the roulette wheel painted on the wall and the bathroom doors painted to look like king and queen playing cards. “It’d have been six years in July.”

The Ante Room will close on March 31, after an All Bets Are Off party. The building is set to be demolished this summer, along with the Main Street Arena ice rink and the iconic Charlottesville gay bar and bohemian hangout, Escafé. A retail and commercial office development, CODE (Center of Developing Entrepreneurs), will be built on the space that has held some of Charlottesville’s most vibrant and diverse cultural spots.

“It’s hard to think past unscrewing all these screws, taking all this stuff down,” especially after putting years of work into the place, Falsini says. But he has a request for those who have enjoyed the venue in its five years and nine months in business at 219 W. Water St.: “Say a little prayer, however you do it,” because he’s looking for a new space to keep the venue’s spirit going.

And it’s important that he does, say area musicians. “No one in Charlottesville [is] more supportive of local music than Jeyon,” says Nate Bolling, a chamber pop and rock musician who’s run sound and taken the stage at The Ante Room dozens of times.

Remy St. Clair, a Charlottesville hip-hop artist and frequent Ante Room event host, says, “We are losing a home when it comes to urban music and art.”

Jeyon Falsini hopes to relocate the popular The Ante Room and continue his support of local musicians, particularly hip-hop and metal acts. Photo by Eze Amos

Falsini got his start booking music at Atomic Burrito in the early 2000s, and eventually started his own company, Magnus Music, booking talent for restaurant-bars like The Whiskey Jar and Rapture and some local wineries and breweries. He opened The Ante Room (initially called The Annex) in July 2012 so that he could put together multi-act bills that would draw attention to the music itself.

Local musicians and music fans will tell you that The Ante Room has one of the most, if not the most, inclusive show calendars in town. Falsini books hip-hop, Americana singer-songwriters, alternative rock, moody rock, goth, new wave, metal, experimental electronic, jam bands, Afrobeat, go-go; salsa dance nights and Indian dance parties; karaoke nights and rap-centric social affairs. He’s served beers to curlers and hockey players who venture upstairs after games at the arena, too.

In particular, The Ante Room has been a haven for the hip-hop and metal scenes, two genres that are often unfairly stereotyped by—and thus not booked at—many venues in Charlottesville. Falsini says yes to both. There’s no reason not to, he says.

“The Ante Room was a welcoming place to genres that mainstream Charlottesville doesn’t seem to value,” says Kim Dylla, Fulton Ave. heavy metal vocalist. Recognizing various genres of music and cultures is an acknowledgment of “diversity of thought,” she says, something Dylla feels The Ante Room has supported more than other local venues.

Travis Thatcher, an electronic musician, agrees. He says The Ante Room has been “a really inclusive space that was kind of up for anything,” including his Frequencies experimental music series.

Falsini is quick to credit small DIY venues like Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar, Magnolia House and Trash House, which also welcome a wide variety of music. The Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative and Champion Brewing Company host occasional shows, as does La Patrona, newly open in the former Outback Lodge space on Preston Avenue. Falsini also hopes that the larger venues in town will begin to see the value of booking a wider variety of genres.

“If there’s one [good] thing that’s happening…with two nightlife spots closing,” people are dispersing and going elsewhere, Falsini says. “Other local businesses will be fortunate enough to meet our customers.”

Much is still up in the air about the next iteration of The Ante Room, but Falsini’s hustling to find the right spot. He’ll book the same variety of genres, but it’s unlikely that his new venue would be downtown. “Wherever it is, we’ll have to blaze new territory,” says Falsini.

And he’s fine with that—it’s what he did with The Ante Room, after all, and the music community has benefited from his wager.

“We can’t give up now,” says Falsini. He’s all in.

Categories
News

Confederates convicted: Statue unshrouders say they’ll appeal

Brian Lambert and Christopher Wayne await the outcome of their March 26 trials. They were charged with multiple counts of destruction of property and trespassing for attempting to remove the black tarps from the once-shrouded General Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson statues in their respective parks. Photo by Eze Amos

Immediately following a March 26 trial in which Charlottesville’s Brian Lambert was found guilty of multiple charges of trespassing in Emancipation and Justice parks and attempting to remove the tarps from the shrouded statues, Lambert could be seen applying a trail of Confederate flag stickers on surfaces in the direction of the General Robert E. Lee monument.

Judge Joseph Serkes had just sentenced him to four years in jail, with all but eight months suspended, in a hearing where Lambert flashed a distinctive hand signal behind his back. With his right thumb forming a circle with his pointer finger, and his three additional digits in the shape of a “W,” he held the “white power” symbol for about 30 seconds before turning to wink at the few people who showed up to support him, including Jason Kessler.

Louisa attorney Richard Harry defended Lambert, while Richmonder Christopher Wayne was represented by Thomas Wilson on similar—but fewer—destruction of property and trespassing charges. Wayne was sentenced to three years, of which all were suspended but five months.

The Richmond man’s trial was unorthodox, and he engaged in several debates with the judge. Lambert patted him on the back multiple times in what appeared to be an effort to get Wayne to stop talking.

Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Cooper Vaughan said Wayne’s frequent outbursts and repeated tampering with the city’s tarps after being arrested were an indicator of his disrespect for the City Council’s August decision to shroud the Confederate statues while the city mourned the deaths that took place during the summer’s Unite the Right rally.

“He’s absolutely right,” Wayne said.

“They believe these laws do not apply to them,” said Vaughan, who added that active jail time was the only way to convey to the men that there are consequences for breaking the rules.

Lambert also was charged with assaulting the Reverend Seth Wispelwey, a United Church of Christ minister, in the early morning hours of November 5, when the clergy member testified he was walking to his parked car on Second Street when he saw and heard what appeared to be someone cutting down the orange fencing surrounding the Lee monument.

Wispelwey said he called out to Lambert that he was trespassing.

“He said, ‘Yeah, I’m trespassing. What are you going to do about it?’ And started coming at me with a knife [with a six-inch blade] in his hand,” said Wispelwey.

But a Charlottesville police officer testified that when he apprehended Lambert, the man had a box cutter and a firearm on him, but no such knife.

Lambert was found not guilty of assault in that interaction, but the officer said he was unsteady on his feet, his speech was slurred, and he told the cop his name was “Brian Brian.” He was charged with public swearing or intoxication and paid the $25 fine on December 28.

In the same November interaction, the officer said Lambert made a “spontaneous utterance” that he had cut the tarp off the statue “at least seven times” by that point, and when he was caught doing so—also while apparently drunk—in a January 9 encounter, he told police he was “doing a public service,” according to another officer’s testimony.

“He told me he was never going to stop,” a third officer told the judge.

Judge Serkes reminded the men that they couldn’t keep taking matters into their own hands. “That’s why we’re a country of laws,” he said.

Outside the courthouse, Lambert took a drag from a cigarette.

“We’ll take our punishment like men,” he said.

The two plan to appeal their verdicts.

Christopher Wayne (center) was unhappy to see the media outside of the hearing in which he and Brian Lambert (right) were sentenced to jail time. Staff photo

 

Corrected March 27 at 4pm to more accurately reflect the length of the blade Lambert was allegedly carrying November 5.

Categories
News

Kessler subpoenaed C-VILLE reporter

Two business days before Unite the Right organizer Jason Kessler was scheduled to stand trial on a felony perjury charge March 20 in Albemarle Circuit Court, C-VILLE Weekly reporter Samantha Baars was in Charlottesville General District Court, where a deputy handed her a subpoena to appear as a witness for Kessler.

Aside from First Amendment freedom-of-the-press issues, the subpoena posed another problem for the paper’s two-person news team: If Baars were sequestered as a witness, C-VILLE would have no one available to cover a case with considerable local interest.

Local attorneys James West and Josh Wheeler volunteered to challenge the subpoena and, with the support of the Rutherford Institute, prepared a motion to quash, which West filed just hours before the trial was scheduled to begin.

West says a federal court has identified reasons subpoenaing journalists is a bad idea, including the potential threat of judicial and administrative interference with news gathering. “If reporters are regularly subjected to open-ended subpoenas, they would be thinking of that in their reporting,” he says. “It would appear to turn reporters into an investigative arm of government or private parties.”

And as in C-VILLE’s case, it places a major burden on the limited resources of a small organization, says West. “You could be intentionally harassed. If a reporter has done a long series of articles that were not particularly flattering, [the subject] could subpoena the reporter so she couldn’t cover the trial.”

Kessler attorney Mike Hallahan told Baars, who had no first-hand knowledge of Kessler’s sworn statement to a magistrate that he was assaulted, which was the basis of the perjury charge, he was subpoenaing her for an October 10 article in which she’d interviewed Jay Taylor, the man Kessler claimed assaulted him.

In court, Hallahan objected to the motion to quash and initially to saying why he wanted Baars as a witness. “He wanted her as an impeachment witness for Taylor,” says West. C-VILLE was unable to reach Hallahan.

Judge Cheryl Higgins granted C-VILLE’s motion. “She was proactive in recognizing journalistic privilege,” says West.

Reporters in Charlottesville are not often subpoenaed to testify in court, but it’s happened before. A special prosecutor called NBC29’s Henry Graff as a witness in February for a case against Jeff Winder for assaulting Kessler August 13.

In 2007, Charlottesville prosecutor Claude Worrell, now a juvenile court judge, subpoenaed former C-VILLE editor Courteney Stuart, then a reporter for the Hook, to testify in a public drunkenness case.

Stuart appeared before Judge William Barkley with a motion to quash. “I cover crime,” she told the judge. “This is drunk in public—a minor crime. This week I’m also covering a capital murder. Am I to be called to testify in every crime I cover?”

Barkley denied the motion. At trial, Rutherford attorneys represented Stuart, but the defendants agreed to stipulate her story was accurate and released her as a witness. At that time, Worrell said he would subpoena reporters in the future because their role in a free press “does not mean they can opt out of their responsibility as citizens to provide information.”

Such a move “makes reporters an investigative tool of the court or government,” says Rutherford president  John Whitehead. “Not a good idea.” It also compromises journalistic integrity, particularly in instances in which a reporter has promised confidentiality to a source, he says.

“A subpoena can be used to intimidate reporters and lower their profile,” says Whitehead. “It threatens freedom of the press.”

Correction: Kessler claimed Taylor grabbed his arm and got in his face, but not that Taylor slugged him as originally reported.

Categories
News

Double negative: Judge dismisses racial profiling suit against Albemarle cop

Detective Andrew Holmes leaves federal court after the first of five lawsuits against him for racial profiling was dismissed. Staff photo

On the second day of a jury trial against Detective Andrew Holmes for racial profiling in his stops of black motorists—the first of five such suits—plaintiffs’ attorney Jeff Fogel rested his case around noon March 22, and Judge Norman Moon ordered it tossed because Fogel did not prove Holmes treated white people differently.

“There is no evidence he did not subject other races to the same treatment,” said Moon in U.S. District Court.

“You have to prove a negative,” said Fogel after the hearing—that Holmes did not stop and search white people in the same situations as he did Fogel’s clients to prove their complaints that Holmes violated their 14th Amendment rights to equal protection.

Bianca Johnson and Delmar Canada brought the suit after Holmes stopped Canada for driving with a suspended license April 26, 2014, and then turned up at their apartment five days later after 11pm on a Friday night with a search warrant for the Department of Motor Vehicles license suspension notice that Canada said he never received.

Holmes, said Fogel, “believes black people driving fancy cars are likely to be drug dealers.”

Holmes’ attorney, Jim Guynn, said his client is “very interested in investigating drug crimes because so many other crimes are related to the drug trade.” And Holmes, who has been promoted since he searched the couple’s Turtle Creek apartment, had recently learned that using search warrants to look for a piece of paper as a pretext is a “beneficial tool” in finding drugs and is perfectly legal.

The day the officer stopped Canada, he was staking out the Super 8 parking lot on Greenbrier Drive because it’s “one area with higher than average calls for service,” Holmes testified. He turned his license plate scanner to the nearby 7-Eleven and ran the tags on Johnson’s BMW 7 Series parked in the lot.

Albemarle police use a database called PISTOL, which besides providing personal information, also reveals whether one has been a victim, an offender or has visited the jail. Holmes said he recognized Johnson’s name because officers had gone to her apartment on a domestic call, and the system offered up Canada’s name as well. He checked Canada’s driving record and saw that his license had been suspended—all before he knew who was driving the car.

When Canada came out of the convenience store, Holmes pulled him.

Canada testified that he never received the license suspension notice because of child support nonpayment, and said that he’d paid the support more than a year earlier.

For Holmes, Canada’s 2009 arrest for crack cocaine was another factor in his hunch that there could be drugs in the apartment, even though the drug charge was dropped. Canada testified he was a passenger just off work when the arrest happened.

Holmes, who had applied to join the Jefferson Area Drug Enforcement Task Force a couple of times, asked a JADE investigator about Canada, who told him “there was no active investigation, but they knew the name,” said Holmes.

Canada and Johnson were asleep when three officers knocked at their door. “It made me nervous because it was so late,” said Johnson. The couple had to sit on the sofa while the officers rummaged through papers for about an hour, and then left without the DMV notice—or drugs.

“I felt violated,” said Canada. “I still think about it.”

Fogel entered into evidence statistics from Albemarle police that show in the sectors Holmes mostly worked, although the population was 68 percent white and 18 percent black, in 2015, 51 percent of the summons he issued were to African-Americans. That same year, 22 percent of county cops tickets were to blacks and 74 percent to whites.

When asked why he cited blacks with greater frequency than other races, Holmes took a long pause and said he couldn’t answer without knowing more about the context and breakdown of the summonses.

“The color of one’s skin alone is not a determining factor” in traffic violations or in drug use,  testified Holmes.

Fogel called as witnesses three black men who had been stopped by Holmes. Sergio Harris, who has filed a lawsuit, said Holmes stopped him three times in one day and searched his 2001 Monte Carlo.

UVA library facilities manager Robert Douglas said Holmes stopped him several times with “bogus” excuses to search his Lincoln Town Car, including a claim he smelled marijuana. “I don’t even smoke weed,” said Douglas, who filed a complaint with the county.

And Rodney Hubbard said Holmes stopped him as he was driving his mother to Maryland on U.S. 29, said he smelled pot, handcuffed him and held them both for two hours during a search of his 2007 Yukon Denali, which yielded no drugs. The Hubbards are plaintiffs in another suit against Holmes.

The witnesses and statistics were not enough for Moon, who said a Fourth Circuit Court ruling required proof “similarly situated individuals in different races were not prosecuted.”

Acknowledged Moon, “They’ve created an impossible burden.”

Fogel said he will appeal the decision. “If you have to prove something that can’t be proven, you have no remedy.”

And Johnson said that while she was disappointed with the decision, “It’s not over. We’re going to keep pressing forward.”

Holmes declined to comment.

 

Correction 11:30am March 23: Sergio Harris was misidentified in the original story.

 

 

 

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News

‘Unfortunate outcome:’ Kessler perjury charge tossed

After his perjury charge was dismissed, Jason Kessler accused Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert Tracci of trying to do a “political hit job.” Eze Amos

 

Jason Kessler didn’t waste any time addressing the media outside the courthouse March 20 when a judge abruptly dismissed a perjury charge against him during the trial.

“[Robert] Tracci is trying to do a political hit job,” he said to the cameras and microphones, adding that he and other attendees of August 12 rally he organized, including “Crying Nazi” Christopher Cantwell, have been targeted by the Albemarle commonwealth’s attorney. “This was an attempt to undermine my credibility so I can’t testify about the city of Charlottesville and their sabotage of that rally that got people hurt. And no one on any side should have gotten hurt.”

Kessler was accused of lying under oath at the local magistrate’s office following a January 2017 altercation with another man on the Downtown Mall. Defense attorney Mike Hallahan made a motion to strike the charge against his client immediately after resting his case, arguing that the prosecutor did not prove that the alleged crime took place in Albemarle County, and that the burden to establish venue is on the commonwealth.

Tracci, who could be heard asking his legal team if they had “any ideas” just minutes before the discharge, made a brief statement outside the courthouse that he was “obviously disappointed,” and said in an email that his office is examining potential steps to take.

“We count on our commonwealth’s attorney to do the best job he can and sometimes it’s not enough,” said local attorney Timothy Read, who was observing the trial. He said the perjury charge can’t be brought against Kessler again because of double jeopardy. “I’m very surprised that it happened here in a case with this much attention. …I think it’s an unfortunate outcome.”

Local legal expert Dave Heilberg says that while all trial attorneys make blunders, the rookie mistake won’t bode well for Tracci in the next election.

“Head prosecutors who are mostly office administrators before showing up to grandstand for their big cases sometimes make these errors,” he says. “Voters don’t forget these unforgivable mistakes.”

The perjury charge stemmed from a Downtown Mall scuffle when Kessler asked passersby to sign a petition to remove then Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy from office for offensive tweets he made before being elected. Community members saw it as a racial attack when the right-wing blogger put his hit out on the only African-American city councilor, and Kessler testified that many people would curse him over their shoulder when he asked for their signature on his document.

But when Jay Taylor approached and took the petition from Kessler, reading it for a few moments and calling Kessler a “fucking asshole,” the man on trial for perjury said he perceived a threat.

Video evidence submitted in court showed Kessler slugging Taylor upside the head, but Kessler’s sworn statement to the magistrate at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail was that Taylor had assaulted him first, by “violently shaking” his arm when he took the petition from Kessler and making “face to face” contact.

In the defense’s opening argument, Hallahan, who wore a long, pink tie, portrayed the result of Taylor’s alleged assaultive behavior by making a swing with his right arm and exclaiming, “BAM!”

Hallahan persisted that Kessler acted in self defense, and that his client’s written account of what happened, made under oath to a magistrate, was true. On the witness stand, Kessler admitted that “shaking,” wasn’t the best word to use and that the “face to face” contact he referred to consisted of Taylor standing about a foot away. In April, Kessler pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault of Taylor.

Jason Kessler addresses the media after flipping off a C-VILLE reporter and pleading guilty to assaulting Jay Taylor in April 2017. Staff photo

Tracci showed a Newsplex clip of Kessler being interviewed on the day of that guilty plea, in which he said, “Man to man, yell in a man’s face and expect to get punched in the face.”

During the perjury trial, Taylor testified he was walking on the mall with his dog and a cup of coffee when he saw Kessler, with whom he was acquainted, and asked to read the petition, even though he wasn’t a city voter.

Taylor said he realized that the petition wasn’t supposed to make anything better, that it was all about creating chaos, and that’s when he handed it back and called Kessler the expletive. After Taylor got clobbered, he said Kessler apologized, asked him not to call the cops and said he was just having a “bad day.”

“Yeah, I was having a bad day, clearly,” Kessler testified. “I try to be [a nice guy], [but] I don’t always succeed.”

It took nearly three hours to seat a jury of 10 men and three women out of a pool of 60 potential jurors, because more than a dozen told the judge that they were familiar with the organizer of the Unite the Right rally and Hallahan elected to individually interview them.

“I will admit that I have a preconceived idea about whether he committed perjury,” said one unnamed juror during her interview. “I believe he lied.”

She was dismissed. Another woman who was relieved of her duties said she knew Kessler as the guy who wanted to remove the city’s Confederate war memorials of General Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson.

“She might be the only person in Albemarle County who thinks Mr. Kessler wants to take the statue down,” said Hallahan after she left the room, and there was a brief moment of unity, where the defendant’s supporters and opponents shared one thing: a nervous giggle.