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Police video not available in Singletary trial

Sean Singletary was arrested at the 1200 block of Harris Street around 4am March 1 for a DUI after performing field sobriety tests and was found not guilty June 23. He was convicted of refusing a breathalyzer or blood test that same day, and appealed.

Former UVA basketball star Sean Singletary’s trial appealing his conviction for refusing to take a breathalyzer has once again been continued. At an October 15 hearing, defense attorney Scott Goodman said he would not be able to submit the 25-minute police dashboard video from Singletary’s March arrest to the judge.

“I found out late last week that that video no longer exists,” Goodman said before Judge Richard Moore in Charlottesville Circuit Court.

According to Moore, the video did not legally need to be preserved because it was evidence in a civil case, rather than a criminal one. This case is classified civil because Singletary was acquitted of his DUI charge and, traditionally, the first convicted refusal is civil.

Legal expert Dave Heilberg says the issue of deleted police videos is not new to the area and courts have ruled that the defense must request the videos be preserved before a specific deadline. In this case, though, Heilberg questions why the dashcam video would be relevant because Singletary refused the breath test at the jail and not when he was arrested.

Though Moore said prosecutor Nina-Alice Antony is probably confident she can prove the case without the video, he granted the defense’s motion to continue the hearing. Antony was prepared to call Charlottesville Police Officer Alexander Blank, who arrested Singletary, up to the witness stand.

Singletary was arrested at the 1200 block of Harris Street around 4am March 1 for a DUI after performing field sobriety tests and was found not guilty June 23. He was convicted of refusing a breathalyzer or blood test that same day, and appealed.

His basketball jersey is retired in the UVA Hall of Fame and he is honored as one of the top five scorers in the history of UVA men’s basketball. He will appear in Charlottesville Circuit Court on December 22 for his trial.

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Know your water: Recent rainstorm boosts levels

As part of a national campaign called Imagine a Day Without Water, members from the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority, Albemarle County Service Authority and City of Charlottesville set up booths last week on the Downtown Mall and asked passersby to describe the many ways they use water. Making tea, brushing teeth, filling water balloons and fighting fires made the list, but how much do locals really know about H20?

The Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority, a water wholesaler for the city and county, serves about 120,000 people. Though its maximum daily demand this year was 12.2 million gallons of water on September 8, RWSA usually provides about 9.6 million gallons each day—that’s a lot of water balloons.

RWSA also treats more than 10 million gallons of wastewater each day and returns it to the Rivanna River.

RWSA’s water supply benefited immensely from the recent rainstorm, the company’s executive director Tom Frederick says—during the week of the storm rain meters showed between five and six-and-a-half inches of collected rain, whereas around four inches are usually measured each month. In the reservoirs, 81.2 percent of storage capacity was met on October 6, while only 64.2 percent was full on September 29, just one week before the storm.

The Rivanna water authority has the capacity to store 2.6 billion gallons of untreated water in its five reservoirs: Sugar Hollow, South Fork Rivanna, Totier Creek, Beaver Creek and Ragged Mountain, the latter a controversial mega dam that was completed in July 2014 and dedicated that September. When it was proposed, some locals thought the environmental damages of building it outweighed its purpose, however Frederick says it’s now only 9.4 feet lower than the primary spillway, whereas the water level was 43 feet below the primary spillway when it was built. More than 10 gallons of treated water are stored in separate storage tanks connected directly to the piping system.

“It’s the world under our feet that we forget,” says Teri Kent, the RWSA’s communications manager. Of the 67 miles of water lines RWSA supports, some of the Charlottesville pipes are more than 100 years old.

Improving infrastructure might be inconvenient for people living in the city, admits Lauren Hildebrand, director of the city’s utilities, but she says Charlottesville is about halfway through 48 separate replacement projects, which aim to improve water quality and replace aging pipes. With long-term plans in place and a plentiful water supply to serve many generations, she says local water authorities are ahead of the game.

“I would’ve said five years ago that we were behind other places in the state,” Frederick says, adding that state and federal law does not allow any utilities to plan their future water supply for longer than 50 years, and the project completed at Ragged Mountain was based on a 50-year plan. “For that reason, I believe we are now ahead of most utilities in Virginia in providing for future water needs.”

Vice Mayor Dede Smith, who was part of a citizen group that opposed creating the Ragged Mountain reservoir, agrees that the current water status in Charlottesville and Albemarle is good, but attributes it to successful conservation efforts and says water usage has dropped about 30 percent since 2000.

When it comes to the Ragged Mountain reservoir, though, “the things that we said would go wrong did,” Smith says. “We predicted that the ecological value of the natural area would be compromised and it has.” Birds frequent the spot less often and more than 100 acres have been clear cut, she adds. Her group feared the reservoir would be filled from the Moormans River and it was, she says, after people from RWSA “turned on the spigot full blast” and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality intervened. The Moormans is now in critical condition, she says.

Clarification: During the 50-year water supply plan process the RWSA secured a permit from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality that allows it to release water into the Moormans River to mimic the natural inflows to that water system. It monitors both the dam and downstream water levels in relation to the Moormans.

Correction: This article was changed at 3:44pm October 16 to reflect the correct name of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.

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Electric feel: City powers ahead with charging stations (updated)

Margaret Smith, Michael Phillips, Keith Woodard and David Toscano stand in front of the city's electric vehicle as Mayor Satyendra Huja cuts a gasoline hose at the grand opening of the Downtown Mall's new fast-charging electric car stations.

General contractor Martin Horn has been generating its own energy for months with an array of rooftop solar panels, and the company just gave passersby a new energy-saver to ogle.

Martin Horn had already installed 82 grid-tied solar panels that produce 260 watts each, enough to run the office most of the time. In September, the company added a free-to-the-public, solar-powered electric vehicle charger, which president Jack Horn says takes only a few hours to fully charge the Nissan Leaf he’s driving while on the Tesla waiting list.

“It’s kind of weird to never go to a gas station,” he says, adding that he’s spent about $150 in maintenance on the car since he bought it for $25,000 two years ago. The Leaf is the only electric car the company owns, but it will soon purchase an electric Audi for Horn’s brother and executive vice president, Ted. Horn believes that the more people learn about these vehicles, the sooner they’ll want to buy one.

“People don’t realize how easy it is to get by on a maximum distance of 75 miles,” he says. “I would say 25 days a month, it’s the only thing I drive.” He adds that he almost never has to charge his car at home and gets by with using just the office charger. Driving an electric vehicle is increasingly easy with the chargers he says he sees popping up all over the city.

On October 13, a new kind of electric vehicle charger came to town. Instead of a traditional grand opening ribbon cutting, people who worked to install the first DC Fast Charger station on the Downtown Mall held a long black gasoline hose as Mayor Satyendra Huja sliced it in half.

At the First and Market streets parking lot, two electric vehicle fast-charging stations now can power energy-efficient, zero-emission cars in just 30 minutes. The city, along with Virginia Clean Cities, also installed fast-charging stations at Homewood Suites on Route 29 North and the Water Street parking lot. Virginia Clean Cities is working to install two more fast-charging stations in Charlottesville, with 22 already immediately available.

“Just a couple years ago, we were talking about getting one charging station,” says Michael Phillips, the project manager of Virginia Clean Cities. “Now we have 25.”

Though more of these cars are taking to the road, Keith Woodard, owner of the lot at First and Market streets, says they’re mostly charged at home—not at public charging stations like the one he just installed.

“This means that someone traveling from out of town can come by and know they have a place to recharge if they need to,” he says.

The fast-charging stations on the mall are some of the first publicly available ones in Charlottesville and are compatible with Tesla, which Woodard drives, and the Nissan Leaf, which Horn drives. The city also has three Nissan Leafs.

Although Delegate David Toscano joked at the grand opening, “Keith is giving away free electrons,” Woodard has joined a slew of people and businesses who supply locals and passersby with the chance to charge their electric car.

UVA has a charger in the Emmet Street parking garage, and it is available for guests staying at Hyatt Place, Homewood Suites, Omni Hotel, Keswick Hall and the Oakhurst Inn. The Virginia Department of Transportation has installed chargers in some rest areas on I-64, and the DC Fast Chargers are now operational from downtown Staunton to Central Virginia and the Virginia Beach oceanfront.

According to Phillips, about 4,000 electric vehicles are registered in Virginia.

Woodard compared the implementation of electric vehicle technology to a small child, saying it started out slowly. Its early stages were like a “little baby,” he said at the grand opening. The presence of these cars eventually started growing and took its first steps before finally taking off running, he said.

“Hopefully pretty soon,” Woodard said, “it’ll be running marathons.”

 

All “green,” no gasoline

Posted October 13

Instead of a traditional grand opening’s inaugural ribbon cutting, people who worked to install the first electric car charging station on the Downtown Mall held onto a long, black gasoline hose as Mayor Satyendra Huja sliced it in half with a large pair of shears.

At the First and Market streets parking lot, two electric vehicle fast-charging stations now exist to power energy-efficient, zero-emission cars.

Keith Woodard, the lot’s owner, compared the implementation of electric vehicle technology to a small child, saying it started out slowly. Its early stages were like a “little baby,” he said, which eventually started growing, and took its first steps before finally taking off running.

“Hopefully pretty soon,” Woodard said, “it’ll be running marathons.”

The stations on the mall are some of the first publicly available ones in Charlottesville and are compatible with Tesla, which Woodard drives, and the Nissan Leaf, which is sold at local Nissan dealerships in Charlottesville and Staunton and also used by the city.

Virginia Clean Cities are working to install two more fast-charging stations in Charlottesville and have already installed 22 others in the state. These chargers can fully power an electric vehicle in 30 minutes, whereas other types of chargers can take several hours.

“Just a couple years ago, we were talking about getting one charging station,” said Michael Phillips, the project manager of Virginia Clean Cities. “Now we have 25.”

Though electric vehicles are growing in numbers, Woodard said they’re mostly charged at home—not at public charging stations like the one he just installed.

“This means that someone traveling from out of town can come by and know they have a place to recharge if they need to,” he said. Other charging stations are located at Homewood Suites on Route 29 North and the Water Street parking lot.

“Keith is giving away free electrons,” David Toscano, the delegate for the 57th District joked at the plug-in. But Woodard isn’t the only local providing ways to power vehicles without gasoline.

Keswick Hall, Oakhurst Inn and UVA also have electric vehicle charging stations.

General Contractor Martin Horn is now operating its company car with solar energy. With the help of another Charlottesville company, Altenergy, the contractor installed a grid-tied solar photovoltaic alternative energy system on the roof of its headquarters in the Belmont neighborhood. The system’s 82 solar panels produce 260 watts each. This solar-powered charger takes a few hours to fully charge a Nissan Leaf and is free to the public. Other than charging the car, though, this system also provides electric energy for the rest of the office.

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Tsaye Simpson faces new charges

Tsaye Simpson's mugshot from his 2013 arrest for murder and his latest mugshot for assaulting an officer on October 8. Mugshots courtesy of the Charlottesville Police Department

A man who was acquitted of a murder charge in May and was previously known for surviving a high-speed car chase on Rugby Road is now charged with assaulting a Charlottesville police officer.

Tsaye Simpson’s latest encounter with law enforcement came October 8 at approximately 12:40am when an officer allegedly smelled marijuana coming from a car he was following on the 700 block of Prospect Avenue and stopped the vehicle. While officers attempted to get the occupants to exit the vehicle, one noticed Simpson, 23, in the passenger side, reach into the rear floorboard, according Charlottesville Police spokesperson Lieutenant Steve Upman in a press release. After Simpson withdrew his arm, the officer saw the butt of a pistol on the floorboard.

Simpson would not comply when the officer ordered him to the ground, physically resisted the officer during the struggle and attempted to remove the officer’s gun from his holster, says Upman. The officer sustained minor injuries from the assault. Police then got Simpson under control and searched him, finding a concealed folding spring-assisted knife. After searching the vehicle, officers found a second firearm and other paraphernalia.

Simpson was charged with assault and battery on law enforcement, two counts of carrying a concealed weapon, possession or transporting firearms by a convicted felon, resisting law enforcement and obstruction of justice.

In May, Simpson was acquitted of all counts related to the October 2013 murder of Jarvis Brown, in which he had previously been charged with first-degree murder and given three weapons charges.

In 2009, Simpson, who was then a 17-year-old Charlottesville High School student, was arrested after a high-speed Rugby Road car chase, in which he catapulted the car into a house, fled the scene and caused over $100,000 worth of damages.

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Delayed extension: What’s up with Water Street?

Water Street Extended is scheduled to open this fall. Photo by Skip Degan

Exactly one year ago, Water Street Extended was expected to open by the end of the year. Twelve months later, city officials are saying it could be accessible soon.

“We’re hopeful that it will be open later in the autumn,” says Miriam Dickler, the city’s director of communications. The developer in charge of the extension is still working to meet city standards and Dickler says lights and underground utilities will be the finishing touches. Then, when everything is “close to perfect,” she says the city will okay the extension and it’ll finally be ready for traffic.

Some nearby businesses are excited for the long-awaited street opening and hope it could bring more people to their shops.

“We would keep checking and checking and eventually we just stopped,” says T.J. Shaver, an employee at Mom and Pop’s Vape Shop, which is beside Beer Run and Pad Thai at the end of Water Street Extended. He says most of his clientele frequent the Downtown Mall and often complain about the street’s unfinished status, because once it opens, it will be easier and faster for customers to drive back and forth from the mall.

“In this corner, parking is limited,” says Santi Ouypron, owner of Pad Thai, adding that he hopes people will be able to park along Water Street Extended when it opens. “It might help.”

Until everyone can access the extension by way of car, residents living in City Walk apartments continue using Water Street Extended and Water Street Trail—a halfway-finished walking trail that runs parallel to the street—on foot.

“I definitely don’t like having the street be dark,” says Alexa Witcofsky, who has lived in City Walk for four months and was told upon moving in that the extension would open once the developer put up streetlights. “The [Downtown Mall] is so close to where I live that it just makes sense to walk…But now that it’s getting darker sooner, I have to plan around that.”

Walking near the unfinished project at night makes Witcofsky uneasy.

“As a female, you try to have more situational awareness than to put yourself on a dark, empty road,” she says, “but you can’t really avoid it if you’re trying to walk back from dinner.”

City Councilor Kathy Galvin says the lights on Water Street should be up this month.

The walking trail is “unofficially open,” according to Carrie Rainey, an urban designer from Charlottesville’s Neighborhood Development Services, but the department of parks and recreation is pursuing a grant to build the remaining trail section to the Belmont Bridge. The existing part of the trail was developed by City Walk and will be accepted by the city concurrently with the approval of Water Street Extended, but Galvin expects the final section of the walking trail to be opened in 2016. Along with the new section will come more lights, more trees and bioretention plantings.

And the extension and walking trail won’t be the only new additions to the street. Water Street Promenade, Riverbend Development’s plan to build two dozen homes along Water Street Extended, will go to the planning commission later this month. Bonds will be posted, a pre-construction meeting will be held and work on the newest project will begin.

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Greene County firing range could be rejected

Tilahun Goshu, an Ethiopian ex-prisoner and refugee, built his dream home in Greene County, only to learn an open-air gun range is proposed right outside his backyard. The county's Board of Supervisors has denied the proposal. Photo by Ron Rammelkamp

Those opposing the development of an outdoor open-air firing range near the Godalming neighborhood in Greene County may soon be able to celebrate. At the end of September, the Greene County Planning Commission recommended Big Iron Outdoors’ proposal be denied and cited the range’s proximity to the neighborhood as the main precaution.

Godalming resident Carolyn Politis says the Board of Supervisors won’t approve the range if it follows the county’s Comprehensive Plan and ordinances, which recommend not impacting adjoining neighborhoods and the value of adjoining properties.

“If they were to follow that, it would not be approved at that location,” she says, “but that’s not to say it’s not a good idea to have a range in Greene.” After all, her organization of concerned citizens called Greene County Neighbors supports a local gun range if put in a safe location.

The Board of Supervisors will have ultimate say in whether the proposal passes. A public hearing before the board is scheduled for 6:30pm October 13 at William Monroe High School.

Related links:

Post traumatic: Proposed shooting range stresses refugees

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Judge sides with pipeline surveyors over landowners

Nelson County mountains. Photo: Jack Looney

Five Nelson County landowners filed a suit against Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC to block members of the company from entering and surveying their properties without written permission. A federal judge dismissed the suit September 30.

Together, landowners Peter and Karen Osborne, James and Joan Klemic and Charlotte Rea own almost 330 acres in Nelson County.

A Virginia code allows natural gas companies to enter private property to survey without a landowner’s written permission, according to the memorandum opinion by the judge. U.S. District Judge Elizabeth K. Dillon ruled in favor of motions to dismiss the suits because she says the code does not deprive a landowner of constitutionally protected property rights.

In May 2014, Dominion sent a letter to the landowners to notify them of their intention to build a 550-mile natural gas pipeline and that their properties were located within the proposed route.

Dominion asked them for written permission to survey their properties and, according to the suit, the landowners did not comply.

Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC has notified them that it could enter their properties to survey for a pipeline in the future, but has no intention of doing so now.

“From the beginning, we have always believed that the Virginia law is consistent with the U.S. Constitution and allows surveys with proper notification and landowner protections. Yesterday’s ruling affirmed that belief and our actions,” Dominion said in a statement October 1. “ACP has followed the procedure as laid out in the Virginia law to survey the best route with the least environmental impact. The Virginia law allows survey only as necessary to meet regulatory requirements.”

Related links:

Landowners respond to Dominion pipeline survey lawsuits

Dominion sues landowners for pipeline survey access

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Gene Washington appears for motions

Gene Everett Washington. Photo: Charlottesville Police Department

The man charged with killing a special education teacher and her daughter appeared in Charlottesville’s Juvenile and Domestic Relations court for a motions hearing on October 5.

Gene Washington’s attorney requested the authority to issue subpoenas for records without having to notify the prosecution, but Judge Rick Moore denied the request. Other motions were mostly procedural.

Washington is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Robin Aldridge and her daughter, Mani, after both were found dead in their Rugby Avenue home following a December 5 house fire. Police say the fire was not responsible for their deaths, but rather blunt force trauma was. Washington also faces capital charges.

He did not testify at the motions hearing, and while his trial is scheduled for May 2016, he’ll appear in court again on December 7.

Related links:

Aldridge murders: Gene Washington goes to grand jury

Hearings set: Accused Rugby Avenue slayer Gene Washington in court

Hundreds mourn Aldridges as friends of accused killer Gene Washington question evidence

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Matthew given three life sentences for attempted Fairfax murder

Jesse Matthew was given three life sentences on October 2 for attempted capital murder, abduction with intent to defile and sexual penetration with an object of a Fairfax woman in 2006. Staff photo/mugshot Charlottesville Police

Amidst screams from his sobbing mother who says she hopes the judge “rot[s] in hell,” Jesse Matthew was given three life sentences today for sexually assaulting a 26-year-old Fairfax woman while attempting to rape and kill her in September 2005. C-VILLE did not attend the sentencing, but followed live tweets by news organizations and reporters in attendance.

Matthew was convicted of this crime in June after DNA collected from the 2014 murder of UVA student Hannah Graham matched the DNA investigators found under the Fairfax victim’s fingernails. Matthew is charged with the capital murder of Graham.

In this case heard at the Fairfax County Circuit Court by Judge David Schnell, Matthew was charged with attempted capital murder, abduction with intent to defile and sexual penetration with an object.

During the June trial, the victim testified against her attacker in a chilling account that gained much media attention, saying she was just steps away from her front door when he picked her up and dragged her to a grassy patch nearby. She said she fought back as he beat her and sexually assaulted her, many media outlets reported. According to the Washington Post:  “He said, ‘I will kill you if you scream again’…He said, ‘Let me do this, and I’ll let you go,” she said.

On the third day of the Fairfax trial, Matthew entered an Alford plea, not confessing to the crime but admitting the jury had enough evidence to convict him.

In a letter to the judge made public on September 29, an alleged former girlfriend of Matthew who used the name “Diana” said Matthew was sexually abused by at least three different people in his childhood. During the hearing, prosecutor Ray Morrogh said the letter from Diana was hard to verify and deemed it irrelevant to the case.

Morrogh called Matthew a modern day Jekyll and Hyde, as reported by WTOP’s Neal Augenstein, and the prosecutor used words like “ruthless,” “remorseless,” “merciless,” “pitiless,” and “heartless,” to describe him, other news organizations and reporters tweeted conglomerately.

Matthew declined to give a statement.

Defense attorney Robert Frank described Matthew as a “kind, considerate, shy, socially awkward, gentle giant,” and asked the judge not to consider his charges in Charlottesville.

Earlier this week, a trial for the 2009 murder of Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington, of which Matthew is also charged, was scheduled for October 24, 2016.

Related links:

Jesse Matthew enters Alford plea in Fairfax

Jesse Matthew to appear in Fairfax court

Motions in Jesse Matthew trial to be filed under seal

Harringtons’ day in court: Jesse Matthew indicted for Morgan’s slaying

 

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McAuliffe warns of worst case scenario

A photo of Hurricane Joaquin pulled from around 1pm on October 1. Photo courtesy of NASA

On September 30, well in advance of Hurricane Joaquin, Governor Terry McAuliffe declared Virginia in a state of emergency. In a teleconference October 1, McAuliffe and other Virginia safety officials said everyone in the commonwealth can expect between 4 and 10 inches of rainfall, whether or not Joaquin turns east and heads out into the ocean.

A severe rainstorm was expected to hit on the night of October 1 and is being monitored separately from the potential hurricane. The storm alone has officials suggesting that, instead of the originally recommended three days worth of supplies, people across the commonwealth prepare for longer-term power outages, which could last several weeks.

“This one is definitely going to hit us,” McAuliffe says.

He and other officials, including Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security Brian Moran, Secretary of Transportation Aubrey Layne and Virginia Emergency Management Coordinator Jeff Stern, say Virginia residents should not travel if they can avoid it.

Allison Farole, local assistant emergency coordinator, says 3 to 4 inches of rain are expected in this area, but in a worst case scenario, residents should prepare for a power outage lasting 5 to 7 days. She says the storm will continue through October 6. No evacuations are expected.