Tag: andrew middleditch

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Another plea agreement: Felony drug charges likely dismissed

Frayser White IV. Photo courtesy of the Albemarle County Police Department

The man involved in the county’s first fatal traffic crash of 2016 pleaded guilty to possession of heroin, cocaine, a generic form of Xanax and to reckless driving in Albemarle County Circuit Court June 21 as part of a plea agreement.

On March 15, 2016, Frayser “Kip” White IV allegedly crossed double-solid yellow lines in his Audi on Ivy Road and collided head-on with 81-year-old Carolyn Wayne, who was driving a Buick and died at the scene.

Though he was sentenced to 18 months and given credit for the several months he has already served, White—whose grandfather founded Virginia Oil and whose father-in-law is director Hugh Wilson—turned to the victim’s family and said, “My actual sentence is a life sentence of sorrow and pain.”

“No words can express my sorrow,” he said. “It’s a tragedy for which I take full responsibility. …I also ask what I can do, if anything, to help your family begin to heal.”

At the scene of the wreck, a witness allegedly saw White drop something behind a nearby bush before police arrived. Upon inspection, officers found it to be a foil packet of alprazolam, the generic form of Xanax, for which White did not have a prescription. The other drug charges—both felonies—stem from residue police say they found in a baggy in his car.

White was initially charged with his second DUI in five years, but prosecutors dropped the charge after finding no evidence he had been drinking. Blood tests revealed no alcohol or illegal drugs or narcotics in his system. For this reason, prosecutors also dismissed a pending involuntary manslaughter charge on July 29.

His attorney, John Zwerling, said White has been in rehabilitative counseling for the past 15 months. He has also attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings five to seven days a week. Zwerling called this a “dedication to sobriety.”

As part of the plea agreement White entered, the court will take both felony drug charges under advisement for a five-year period, and they will be dropped if he follows all conditions, including abstaining from drug and alcohol use, taking random drug and alcohol tests and successfully completing five years of supervised probation. Additionally, his license has been suspended for the same amount of time.

Kimberly Rose, the victim’s oldest granddaughter, spoke at the hearing about her beloved “Mimi,” who played bridge weekly, walked her dog, Sweetie Pie, every day, taught her to crochet and was “tragically killed” by White.

“I cannot forgive Mr. White for what happened,” she said, and she asked that he get the help he needs to prevent a similar situation from happening again.

In recent history, a couple of other prominent white men have made similar headlines for car crashes on county roads that resulted in a dead elderly person and a short jail sentence.

When realtor Andrew Middleditch was charged with involuntary manslaughter for a 2015 Memorial Day drunk-driving crash that killed 78-year-old Lonnie Branham, he was sentenced to five years in prison, but only served 140 days.

In August 2014, Charlottesville author and world renowned journalist Donovan Webster killed 75-year-old Wayne Thomas White on Route 151 in a similar drunk-driving and involuntary manslaughter case. He pleaded guilty to the charges in February 2015 and was sentenced to two years in jail.

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UPDATED: Middleditch enters Alford plea, will serve less than half a year in jail

Andrew Middleditch (left) and his attorney, Fran Lawrence, address media outside of the courtroom after he entered an Alford plea in his involuntary manslaughter charge. Staff photo

 

On the second day of his jury trial, prominent realtor Andrew Middleditch, 56, pleaded guilty to his second DUI offense and entered an unexpected Alford plea before the closing statements related to his involuntary manslaughter charge, which came from a Memorial Day car crash that killed 78-year-old Lonnie Branham.

When the judge asked Middleditch if he made the decision to enter the plea on his own, he did not immediately answer yes. He also asked the judge to explain the meaning of an Alford plea after he entered it.

An Alford plea is not an admission of guilt, but rather an acknowledgment that a jury has enough evidence for a conviction.

Once sentenced to five years in prison, with all but 90 days suspended for the involuntary manslaughter charge, and 12 months for the second drunk driving offense, with but 40 days suspended, Middleditch stood and faced the family of the victim.

“I want you to know something from the bottom of my heart,” he said, his voice shaking. “I really wanted to go to the funeral and they told me I couldn’t.” He added that he is “very, very sorry,” and that he was suffering addictions that he has since gotten under control. He also said he still feels like he didn’t cause the accident.

Outside of the courtroom, teary-eyed family and friends gathered around Leigh Middleditch, the defendant’s father who has served on UVA’s Board of Visitors, and Betty Middleditch, the defendant’s mother. “He was so brave,” one said to the parents, and another said, “I’m so proud.”

“Mr. Middleditch still feels like he didn’t do anything wrong,” defense attorney Fran Lawrence said outside the courthouse, adding that his client chose to take the Alford plea because it was difficult to tell what the jury was thinking. He said his client is committed to sobriety, his family and his role in the community.

“Somebody who’s never been in serious trouble has difficulty admitting to himself that he might have done something wrong,” says C-VILLE legal expert Dave Heilberg about why Middleditch might have chosen to take his case to trial. “Sometimes you have to get a jury trial started before a defendant is ready to hear what the evidence against him might be.”

Heilberg says the Alford plea could have been used as a device to keep from having liability admitted.

A wrongful death lawsuit filed against Middleditch by Branham’s family has been settled, according to the family’s attorney, Greg Webb.
Middleditch will report to the Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail on May 20 to serve his time.

Read about the first day of his trial here.

In August 2014, Charlottesville author and world renowned journalist Donovan Webster, also 56 at the time, killed Wayne Thomas White Sr., a 75-year-old from Waynesboro, on Route 151 in a similar drunk driving and involuntary manslaughter case that was also prosecuted by Quatrara.

Webster pleaded guilty to the charges in February 2015 and was sentenced to two years in jail.

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‘Almost instantaneous’: Realtor’s DUI manslaughter charges go to grand jury

Andrew Middleditch turned left into a passing car on Barracks Road. Mugshot from Albemarle Police

 

High-end real estate agent Andrew Middleditch’s charges for driving under the influence for the second time and for involuntary manslaughter stemming from a Memorial Day crash that killed 78-year-old Lonnie Branham were certified to the grand jury in a November 19 preliminary hearing.

Witness Victor Schiller was driving behind Middleditch’s silver SUV and Lonnie Branham’s white Chevy Lumina headed east around 8am May 25 when Branham, in a legal passing zone, pulled out to go around Middleditch as Middleditch made a left turn. The vehicles collided and Branham’s car flipped over.

In an e-mail to police the day after the crash, Schiller said he saw Middleditch’s left turn signal and brake lights go on and the white car speed up and move to pass the SUV. In court, he said the events were “pretty much simultaneous.”

Defense attorney Fran Lawrence hammered on the difference in sequence of events between the e-mail and Schiller’s testimony. “This whole thing unfolded in less than three seconds,” said Schiller.

He said he was going approximately 45mph and it didn’t seem like the other cars were “going too fast.” Middleditch had just started his turn and “was barely into the left lane” when the two cars struck, testified Schiller. He agreed with Lawrence that the Lumina driver could have seen Middleditch’s signal and brake lights, and said he saw no brake lights on the Lumina. “He could not move back into his lane because he was committed,” said Schiller. “It was a second. It was a long second.”

Five seconds before the crash, Middleditch was going between 17mph and 19mph, said Albemarle County Police Officer Jonathan Hickory, who examined the crash data recorder in Middleditch’s 2013 GMC Yukon. A half second before the crash, Middleditch hit the brakes, said the officer.

Middleditch kept his head and eyes downcast during much of the hearing. When Hickory showed photos of the crash scene with Branham’s body in a white sheet, Middleditch closed his eyes.

Officer Greg Anastopoulos noticed “an odor of alcohol” when he spoke to Middleditch at 8:24am, he told the court. “He was speaking at a very low volume” and his speech was “slurred at times,” said Anastopoulos.

Middleditch told him he was a realtor and was looking at property, going around 35mph, when another vehicle came up at what he estimated was 70mph and clipped the front of his SUV, testified Anastopoulos.

In a video of the roadside interview and field sobriety test, Middleditch told the officer he’d had a beer or two the night before before 9pm, then said he’d had two or three beers that night.

“I’m completely fine,” said Middleditch on the video. Moments later, he said, “This has never happened before in my life, seriously. I’m upset about this person.” Middleditch also said three times that he was “freaking out” over the situation.

He performed two field sobriety tests, but refused to do an alphabet test. “I’m not doing the alphabet,” he said. “I’m dyslexic. I have a hard time finding numbers in the phone book.”

When Anastopoulos took him to the Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail and tested his blood alcohol level 35 to 40 minutes later, Middleditch blew .18 BAC, more than double the legal limit of .08.

Judge Robert Downer found enough probable cause to certify the charges to the grand jury, which meets December 7.

And that’s not the only legal woe facing Middleditch. Branham’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in August.