Commonwealth’s Attorney Denise Lunsford has requested the denial of almost all 12 of the latest motions filed in Jesse Matthew’s capital murder case for the death of Hannah Graham, having no objections to only one and requesting to deny in part only four.
Lunsford didn’t object to a motion requiring the commonwealth to give written notice of its intent to introduce unadjudicated criminal conduct in the event of a sentencing proceeding.
But for the motion to bar any tokens and insignia inside the courtroom, one of the most talked about in the case, Lunsford requested to deny it in part, citing two Virginia capital murder trials during which people wore buttons on their clothes that supported the victims and the Court of Appeals did not find anything prejudicial about those tokens.
“The risk of prejudice to the defendant from any of these tokens is virtually zero—the jury is unlikely to even notice them…” Lunsford wrote in her response, also saying that she supports the removal of tokens or insignias if they become so numerous or obvious that a risk of prejudice is created.
She requested that the motion for Matthew to not appear shackled in public to be denied in part, saying he should not appear before the jury in restraints or a jail or prison uniform, but should appear shackled otherwise.
See a full list of her responses here, courtesy of the Daily Progress.
Judge Cheryl Higgins will hear the motions August 20 at 1:30pm in Albemarle Circuit Court.