Tag: Judge Norman Moon

Categories
News

UPDATE: Northam calls for end of automatic driver’s license suspensions

Governor Ralph Northam was at Legal Aid Justice Center to call for an end to suspending driver’s licenses without consideration of ability to pay. Courtesy Legal Aid Justice Center

Governor Ralph Northam was in Charlottesville today to announce a budget amendment that would end the automatic suspension of driver’s licenses for nonpayment of court fines and costs. The amendment would also reinstate driving privileges for 627,000 Virginians whose licenses are suspended.

At Legal Aid Justice Center, which has filed suit against the commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles for the automatic suspensions that don’t consider someone’s ability to pay, Northam said, “It is time that we end this unjust practice and allow hardworking Virginians to get back to work”

A bill to end the practice failed in this year’s General Assembly, and one concern of legislators was that part of at $145 license reinstatement fee goes to the DMV and the Trauma Center. Northam said he’s providing $9 million in his budget amendment to cover the impact of the loss of the fee revenue.

Brianna Morgan, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, described losing her license over a minor traffic infraction during a high-risk pregnancy when she had no money. She was unable to take her father, who’d had a stroke, to doctor’s appointments. When her son had an asthma attack at school, it took an hour on the bus to get there. “Suspending people’s driver’s licenses for court debt they can’t pay hurts families,” she said. “It hurt mine.”

Plaintiff Brianna Morgan, center, with Delegate Cliff Hayes, Legal Aid Justice Center executive director Angela Ciolfi, Senator Jennifer McClellan, and Legal Aid policy coordinator Amy Woolard following the governor’s announcement that he wants to end automatic driver’s license suspensions. Legal Aid Justice Center

“The practice of suspending a person’s driver’s license for nonpayment of court fines and costs is inequitable—it’s past time we end it,” said Northam. “A driver’s license is critical to daily life, including a person’s ability to maintain a job. Eliminating a process that envelops hundreds of thousands of Virginians in a counterproductive cycle is not only fair, it’s also the right thing to do.”

Northam’s amendment goes back before the legislature when it reconvenes April 3.

The lawsuit, Stinnie v. Holcomb, was back in U.S. District Court March 25  after a big victory before Christmas. That’s when federal Judge Norman Moon issued a preliminary injunction reinstating the plaintiffs’ licenses, and said they were likely to prevail in their arguments the “license suspension scheme” is unconstitutional.

In the latest hearing, the state argued a motion to dismiss, still insisting driving is not a fundamental right, and that a traffic summons and a form given in court offered people plenty of notice that their license would be suspended 30 days after their conviction if they didn’t pay up—and if they read the form, they’d know they could request a payment plan, community service, or just ask the judge to forego the fine and court costs all together.

“What if a person 15 days later runs into a government shutdown and doesn’t get a check?” asked Moon. “What tells them they’re entitled to a hearing?”

“There is no notice before the automatic suspension,” said McGuireWoods attorney Jonathan Blank, who, with Legal Aid Justice Center, represents the plaintiffs.

He said the automatic suspension of driver’s licenses is a coercive way to collect debt, a technique private creditors can’t use. “It’s crazy and it’s not constitutional,” said Blank. “People are threatened with jail if they can’t pay their debts.”

He also called the state law “one of the worst statutes that’s in the Code of Virginia today.”

The plaintiffs filed a motion to certify a class action that would include everyone whose license is currently suspended and all future suspensions.

The commonwealth disagreed, and said the class was way over broad and would include people who could afford to pay.

“Every individual deserves the right to notice [of license suspension] regardless of their ability to pay,” said McGuireWoods attorney Laura Lange.

Judge Moon did not rule on either motion, and a weeklong trial is scheduled to begin August 5.

Legal Aid Justice Center executive director Angela Ciolfi says she can’t predict when or how the judge will rule, but “relief can’t come soon enough for the hundreds of thousands of families living under this brutally unconstitutional law.”

Categories
News

Punishing: Repeal of automatic driver’s license suspensions dies in subcommittee

Delegate Rob Bell was on the subcommittee that killed a repeal of automatic driver’s license suspensions.  AMY JACKSON SMITH

Things were looking good for opponents of Virginia’s automatic suspension of driver’s licenses for nonpayment of court costs. A federal judge had opined the state law is likely unconstitutional, a Republican state senator carried a bill that repealed the law, and it passed the Senate 36-4.

Then it got to a House subcommittee, where four Republicans, including Delegate Rob Bell, torpedoed the measure 4-3.

Senator Bill Stanley, a criminal defense attorney who represents a chunk of Southside, was not pleased, particularly with Bell and House Majority Leader Todd Gilbert and their grip on the Courts of Justice subcommittee.

He told the Roanoke Times February 11, “They just want to continue to punish people, they just want to continue to punish the poor, they just want to continue to put their will forth as the will of the commonwealth, two people determining the fate of 600,000 Virginians. This is rule by fiat.”

Stanley, who carried the same bill last year, figured it had a better chance this year, particularly after Judge Norman Moon issued a preliminary injunction in Stinnie v. DMV ordering the reinstatement of the plaintiffs’ licenses, which had been automatically suspended when they couldn’t afford to pay the fines and court costs, which thrust them into spiraling debt and, in some cases, jail for driving on suspended licenses.

Legislators who didn’t support the measure last year told Stanley they would vote for it this year, he says. “When Judge Moon made his decision, I thought we’re either going to fix this problem of debtors prison or a federal judge will,” says Stanley. “It looks like the judge will.”

He calls the automatic suspensions “punitive,” and the $145 DMV reinstatement fee a tax. “This has nothing to do with bad driving,” he says.

Bell “respectfully disagrees” with Stanley. For serious offenses like passing a school bus or texting while driving, “when someone violates those, I do think it’s appropriate they be punished and they pay some penalty,” he says.

The General Assembly passed a law in 2017 that requires courts to offer payment plans or community service. “As long as you’re on the payment plan, you have your license and you can drive,” says Bell. “We do require you to have some punishment.”

“You miss one payment and your license is suspended,” retorts Stanley. And those plans are used “exclusively for those who are in front of the court. It does nothing for the 600,000 who have already had their licenses suspended.”

Stanley says the automatic license suspensions punish people for being poor, and makes it difficult for them to get to jobs and provide for their families. “It perpetuates poverty,” he says. “I don’t think you can have economic growth without removing the crushing cycle of poverty.”

He adds, “You’d think Republicans would want to get people off dependency.”

Angela Ciolfi, executive director of the Legal Aid Justice Center, represents the plaintiffs in the federal case. She says her team did an analysis of the results of the payment plan legislation and found that the new policy made almost no difference in the number of licenses suspended.

“And the suspension law hasn’t changed, either,” she says. “When someone doesn’t pay or falls off a payment plan, the law says that suspension is automatic, with no notice, no hearing, and no consideration of why the person didn’t pay.”

She’s working on making the case a class action suit, and anticipates the parties will be back in court soon.

Stanley believes that if Judge Moon orders the DMV to reinstate all the licenses suspended for nonpayment of fines, “it will create havoc in the DMV” that could be avoided if legislators fixed the problem.

And he’s still not happy that a subcommittee killed a bill he thought had broad bipartisan support in the General Assembly. “The rule of a few is determining the future of 600,000 people.”

Categories
News

In brief: DMV’s court order, Brown’s abrupt closing, Murray’s lump of coal and more

Courtesy DMV

Driver’s license suspensions under siege

A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction December 21 and ordered Department of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Richard Holcomb to reinstate the driver’s licenses of three plaintiffs who automatically lost their licenses when they were unable to pay court costs and fines. The judge said they are likely to prevail in their arguments that such automatic suspensions are unconstitutional.

That same week, Governor Ralph Northam called for an end to the practice. And Republican state Senator Bill Stanley has filed a bill that would end the automatic suspensions.

The class-action lawsuit—Stinnie v. Holcomb—challenges the automatic loss of driving privileges regardless of a person’s ability to pay and without notice or a hearing. Brought by the Legal Aid Justice Center in Charlottesville, the case alleges that approximately 650,000 Virginians have had their licenses suspended for reasons that have nothing to do with driving violations and solely for failure to pay fines.

In his ruling, Judge Norman Moon says, “While the Court recognizes the Commonwealth’s interest in ensuring the collection of court fines and costs, these interests are not furthered by a license suspension scheme that neither considers an individual’s ability to pay nor provides him with an opportunity to be heard on the matter.”

Two of the plaintiffs—Damian Stinnie and Adrianne Johnson—are from Charlottesville, and Moon’s injunction noted how the inability to drive affected their ability to find employment and “created a cycle of debt.”

His ruling only affects the plaintiffs in the case, and the DMV is ordered to reinstate their licenses without charging its $145 reinstatement fee.

“Today’s ruling is a victory for the Constitution and for common sense. The Court stated unequivocally that Virginia’s driver’s license suspension statute likely violates procedural due process rights, says Angela Ciolfi, executive director of Legal Aid Justice Center, in a release.

Since the case was filed in 2016, the issue, which advocates call a “modern-day debtors prison,” has gained national attention. Lawsuits have been filed in six other states and a federal judge in Tennessee recently issued a similar injunction there.

Quote of the week

“We cannot ignore the role of firearms in mass school shootings, nor should we avoid our responsibility as legislators to act.”—Democratic minority report to a House of Delegates committee report on school safety that does not address gun violence

In brief

Eugenics landmark closes

The Central Virginia Training Center outside Lynchburg, where 4,000 Virginians were sterilized, often without their knowledge, will close in 2020. Charlottesvillian Carrie Buck was sent there in 1924, because she was pregnant and accused of promiscuity and “feeble-mindedness.” In Buck v. Bell, the U.S. Supreme Court famously ruled that “three generations of imbeciles are enough,” and okayed her later sterilization. The institution stopped performing sterilizations in 1952 but continued to care for the intellectually disabled.

Hung out to dry

Brown’s Cleaners abruptly shuttered its four stores Christmas Eve, leaving employees without paychecks—and customers wondering how to retrieve their dry cleaning. A sign said to check legal notices in the Daily Progress about how to pick up orders, but as of December 28, the Progress said it had received no info from the 71-year-old business, which took its website down and left phones unanswered. NBC29 reports the company declared bankruptcy.

Virginians favor pot decriminalization

A new ACLU poll shows 71 percent of registered voters favor dropping criminal penalties for small amounts of marijuana, and 63 percent say it should be legal and regulated like alcohol. The poll also shows a majority believe that race or economic status influence how one is treated in the criminal justice system, and 62 percent say fewer people should be sent to prison because it costs taxpayers too darn much.

Garrett’s swan song

Tom Garrett file photo

In his last days as 5th District representative, Tom Garrett saw President Donald Trump sign his bill renaming the Barracks Road Shopping Center post office in honor of Captain Humayun Khan, a UVA grad who died in Iraq in 2004. The Republican also delivered a bipartisan letter to Trump opposing the president’s decision to remove U.S. troops from Syria, calling it a threat to national security.

Lump o’ coal

Jim Murray contributed photo

The office of UVA Vice Rector Jim Murray got a visit from one of “Santa’s elves,” who delivered a piece of coal and said the venture capitalist had been naughty this year for opposing a living wage and calling its proponents “intellectually lazy,” according to a video circulated by Virginia Organizing.

Another Landes challenger

Ivy resident Lauren Thompson, 30, became the second Democrat to seek the nomination to run against 12-termer Republican Delegate Steve Landes, 59, whose 25th District, mainly in Augusta and Rockingham counties, includes a swipe of western Albemarle. Thompson, a Navy veteran, faces Augusta activist Jenni Kitchen, 37, for the Dem nod.

By the numbers

Housing affordability

The folks at the Virginia Public Access Project are always crunching the numbers, and last week they published how much of your take-home pay goes to housing, depending on where you live.

While Charlottesville may seem like one of the most expensive markets in the state, in Emporia City, 32.7 percent of median household income goes for housing, compared to nearly 25 percent in Charlottesville and 20.14 percent in Albemarle County. Highland County is the cheapest place to live, taking only an 11.6 percent bite out of paychecks, according to VPAP.

Categories
News

‘Modern-day debtors’ prison’: Injunction sought to stop practice of suspending driver’s licenses for unpaid fines

Caption Legal Aid Justice Center attorney Angela Ciolfi wants a judge to order the DMV to stop automatically suspending driver’s licenses because of unpaid fines and court costs. Staff photo

It’s a tough argument to make: That a woman with three children who makes around $9 an hour, who can’t buy enough groceries to meet minimum nutritional needs, and who shares a bedroom with two kids in an apartment with another family, has plenty of money left over to pay $100 a month to get her suspended driver’s license back.

Yet that was the case the Commonwealth of Virginia made at a November 15 hearing. The state suggested that if the woman gave up her cellphone, she’d have the $100 a month and that losing access to communication would in no way would cause her “irreparable harm.”

The case is Stinnie v. Holcomb, and it was filed in 2016 by the Legal Aid Justice Center, which claims the state’s automatic suspension of driver’s licenses for nonpayment of court fines and fees that often have nothing to do with actual driving infractions, is unconstitutional because it happens with no notice of the suspension, no consideration of the person’s ability to pay, and falls disproportionately upon the poor.

At a four-and-a-half-hour hearing in U.S. District Court, plaintiffs’ attorneys asked Judge Norman Moon for a preliminary injunction to immediately stop the automatic suspensions.

Moon has seen this case before. In early 2017, he heard the state’s motion to dismiss, which argued that Richard Holcomb, the DMV commissioner, was not the proper defendant and federal court not the proper venue. Moon agreed and dismissed the case, but a federal appeals court sent it back to him.

This time, Moon asked a lot more questions about how indigent people were supposed to pay staggering court costs—and then the additional $145 the DMV charges to reinstate a license. At times he called a driver’s license a “property right,” veering from the state’s assertion that a license is a privilege.

“We’re seeking an order declaring the statute unconstitutional,” said Legal Aid Justice Center attorney Angela Ciolfi. That’s a possibility Moon had considered last year in his decision dismissing the case, because people get no notice or hearing about the license suspension—in effect no due process.

Adrianne Johnson, 34, is one of the plaintiffs. The native Charlottesvillian has three children and worked as a certified nursing assistant until she was convicted of a drug charge in Brunswick County. She didn’t get jail time, but had court costs of $865. She was paying $100 a month until she lost her job. Unaware that her license had been suspended for the unpaid fines, she was then charged with driving with a suspended license. After a second suspension, she stopped driving because a third conviction carries jail time.

Not having a license has affected her job opportunities, she testified. Though she managed to find another job, the lack of a driver’s license is preventing her from being promoted to manager, she said, because that position requires driving to make daily bank deposits.

“It’s very stressful, very inconvenient to me and my children,” she said. Her daughter has medical issues and her son plays sports. “I can’t take him or go to any of his games.”

With a license, she said, “I would be able to have a better paying job. I could pay the court costs and fines.”

Assistant Attorney General Margaret O’Shea asked Johnson if she’d gone to the Brunswick court to ask for community service.

“No, I didn’t know about that,” said Johnson. “And how am I going to get to Brunswick? I don’t have a license.”

O’Shea suggested that with Johnson’s $200/month rent for a room she shares with two of her children, she should have plenty of money left over to pay her fines.

“I have nothing left over after I pay my expenses,” said Johnson. “It just leaves me with nothing. Nothing at all.”

The plaintiffs called Diana Pearce, a University of Washington professor who created the self-sufficiency standard, which determines that amount of income needed to meet basic needs.

Pearce looked at Johnson’s income and expenses, and said, “She’s not able to meet her basic needs based on her income.”

O’Shea asked if the numbers meant Johnson had $400 a month left over, and that with the $200 rent, “she had a roof over her head.”

The money is not extra income, maintained Pearce. Johnson is “not spending enough on housing and nutritional needs,” and sharing a room with two kids was not meeting basic needs, she added.

Steven Peterson is a microeconomist who testified that the loss of a driver’s license for unpaid fines “disproportionately affected poor people,” with 40 to 45 percent losing their jobs. If they found another job, he said, 88 percent had lower incomes.

Using numbers from the DMV, he said in 2017, 977,891 people had their licenses suspended, and 647,517 of those were suspended only as a result of not paying fines and court costs.

McGuireWoods attorney Jonathan Blank asked the judge to declare the suspensions unconstitutional. “You cannot punish a person who lacks the resources to pay a debt,” he said. “We’re here because this is a modern-day debtors prison.”

Moon seemed skeptical of the commonwealth’s arguments that the costs on indigent people caused no “irreparable harm,” and said, “They shouldn’t be punished if they cannot pay.”

But with an eye toward the weather, Moon recessed the court without ruling and said he had to get to Lynchburg.

“I feel very heartened by the judge’s questions,” said Ciolfi. “He clearly gets the unfairness” and the “devastation” to people’s lives.

 

 

Categories
News

Update: Culpeper mosque case headed to mediation

Culpeper Supervisor Jack Frazier voted against the pump-and-haul permit for the Islamic Center of Culpeper's mosque. Photo Hawes Spencer

Following a March 22 hearing in U.S. District Court, the County of Culpeper and the U.S. Department of Justice agreed to mediation in the suit the DOJ filed alleging county discrimination against the Islamic Center of Culpeper when it requested a sewage permit for a mosque that was normally granted to churches.

The Islamic Center, which filed its own suit against Culpeper County, will join in the April 6 settlement conference that will be heard by U.S. Magistrate Judge Joel Hoppe in Harrisonburg.

Original story

‘Naked public animus’: Judge Moon questions Culpeper mosque permit denial

U.S. District Court Judge Norman Moon gave hints Wednesday that he may green-light a trial for the U.S. Department of Justice’s discrimination case against Culpeper County– which has been accused of illegally denying a sewage permit for a planned mosque after years of routinely approving permits for churches.

“Things were going along smoothly until somebody raised a question,” said Moon.

However, the Northern Virginia attorney representing Culpeper County at the March 22 motions hearing in Charlottesville fired back at the bench.

“What seems to have triggered this litigation were negative comments out in the community from random citizens,” said Sharon Pandak. “Ears perked up, and everybody said, ‘Oh, it must be discrimination.'”

That’s what Justice attorney Eric Treene will try to prove.

“We had a public meeting where naked public animus was expressed,” said Treene.

Arguing to bring the case to trial, Treene said evidence would show that such animus motivated the Board of Supervisors, which ruled 4-3 last April to deny a so-called pump-and-haul sewage permit for the planned site of the Islamic Center of Culpeper. According to the plaintiff, the county considered 26 applications and never previously denied a pump-and-haul permit for a commercial or religious use—except for the mosque.

“They did not want this particular use in their county,” he said.

“It’s not a land use issue,” countered Pandak. “It has to do with the disposal of human waste.”

The county may find support from the Virginia Department of Health, which discourages pump-and-haul permits as a safety hazard. The Justice Department, however, has already found support from Judge Moon, who seemed less wary of the systems.

“In my area,” said Moon—who lives in Lynchburg—”they’re very common because of the rain.”

Moon went on to express concern about the prospects for the land that the Islamic Center wants to buy.

“How could anyone use it,” he asked, “without a sewage system?”

Pandak replied that recent technology advances mean that land that can’t support a conventional septic system can still be developed by constructing an alternative treatment system that might cost around $25,000. (The average cost for a conventional residential system is $5,000, according to homeadvisor.com)

“This is a self-imposed hardship,” said Pandak.

Pandak also said that zoning on the property allows for the construction of alternative treatment systems and religious buildings– including a mosque.

“They can commence to build now,” said Pandak. “They have options.”

If Pandak was winning the technology argument, there was still the question of disparate treatment for churches and mosques. And when Pandak criticized the Justice Department’s discrimination claim as “speculative,” the judge stopped her.

“I think you’re trying to try the case today,” said Moon. “The court has to look at the pleadings in the light most favorable to the plaintiff.”

On Facebook a few hours after the hearing, longtime legal analyst Lloyd Snook wrote this: “When a government has lost Norman Moon, it has lost.”

Moon gave no timetable for when he will decide whether or not the matter goes to trial.

 

Categories
News

In brief: Library shocker, UVA’s $9 million plane and more

The Northside Library on Rio Road, which opened in 2015, houses 30,000 square feet and the most checked out books. Stephen Barling

Busy as a bookworm

Here in the digital age, one relic from our printing-press past is defying obsolescence: the library. The Jefferson-Madison Regional Library saw its busiest year ever in 2016, with its newest Crozet and Northside libraries contributing to the boom, according to director John Halliday. It’s not just books that account for the heavy traffic. People go to the libraries for programs, to rent space in the McIntire Room in the Central Library and to use computers or Wi-Fi. E-books are the fastest-growing segment, now making up 5 percent of the volume. The biggest problem at Northside right now is parking. “That’s a good problem to have,” says Halliday.

2016: spine-tingling year

  • 1.7 million Number of books checked out from JMRL
  • 1.2 million Users who came through library doors
  • 103,000 People with library cards
  • 10 Branches including the book mobile
  • 110 employees
  • $7.6 million budget
  • Most used branch: Central Library
  • Branch with most books checked out: Northside

In brief

Keep fighting

A judge ruled March 13 that federal court does not have jurisdiction in the Legal Aid Justice Center lawsuit against the Department of Motor Vehicles that challenged Virginia’s automatic suspension of driver’s licenses for unpaid fines, regardless of ability to pay. Charlottesville resident Damian Stinnie was one of the plaintiffs, and Legal Aid says it will continue to fight.

“Virginia law leads state judges to automatically suspend a defendant’s driver’s license for nonpayment of court fees and fines, regardless of his ability to pay. That unflinching command may very well violate Plaintiffs’ constitutional rights to due process and equal protection.”

—Judge Norman Moon in dismissing a lawsuit against the DMV

Whiskey rebellion sours

Silverback Distillery owner Denver Riggleman ended his campaign for governor, citing “business considerations, resource shortages and family health issues.” Pundits say the effect of his withdrawal on the now-three-man race for the GOP nomination will be minimal.

Chilling death

On a day where the low temperature was 21 degrees, a man, 58, was found dead on the porch of a business around 7:35am March 15 in the 1000 block of East Jefferson Street. Police said the circumstances did not appear suspicious, but it was under investigation, and the man’s remains were sent for review by a medical examiner at UVA.

Shooting and a chaser

A 17-year-old boy was shot in the 700 block of Sixth Street SE on March 16, according to city police, who said he was arrested the following day on charges of attempted malicious wounding and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Tyrek Wells, Cy-Lamarr Rojas and Quintus Brooks were also charged in the shooting and the subsequent high-speed chase that followed.

What’s with all the chases?

Around 4am on March 21, county police say officers deployed spike strips on Route 250 to stop a vehicle pursuit that originated in Nelson County. Charges are pending for the driver, who was attempting to turn onto I-64 and crashed his car after hitting the spikes. At press time, a police spokesperson did not yet have the driver’s name.

In plane sight

Cessna560XLCitationXLS_PeterBakema_edit
This Cessna Citation XLS is similar to the one recently purchased by UVA. Photo Peter Bakema

In December, C-VILLE reported on a $4 million jet owned by the University of Virginia Foundation since the early 2000s after a rumor that Thomas Jefferson’s university had purchased a new plane, which a
school spokesperson denied. The Federal Aviation Administration’s website documented that a new tail number, N560VA, was reserved by the foundation on December 30—just two days after our report was published—and we found that the original Cessna Citation Bravo was up for sale.

University spokesperson Anthony de Bruyn now says the foundation recently purchased an $8.8 million 2015 Cessna Citation XLS, an eight-seat, multi-engine jet flown by pilots-in-command John Farmer and Stephen Power. The old Citation Bravo sold for $950,000, he adds.

“The foundation’s previous aircraft, which was also purchased used, had been in service since 2004 and was due for a significant scheduled maintenance overhaul,” de Bruyn says. “Instead of investing in a costly overhaul, the decision was made to purchase a used aircraft and to sell the previous aircraft. The foundation, which owns the aircraft, conducted the sale and acquisition. No tuition dollars or public monies were used.”

Corrected March 22 at 9am to reflect the correct number of seats on the University of Virginia Foundation’s 2015 Cessna Citation XLS.

Categories
News

Settlement nearly reached for Fluvanna prisoners

Prisoners at the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women say they haven't been cared for appropriately. Photo courtesy of FCCW

“It’s nasty—it had feces on the wall,” testified an inmate at the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women during a November 9 settlement hearing. “It had blood,” she added, describing a trip to the prison infirmary.

Cynthia Scott, 46, is one of five female prisoners who filed suit against the institution for insufficient medical care in July 2012. The settlement hearing, heard by Judge Norman Moon in U.S. District Court, was to determine the fairness of the settlement in the class action lawsuit. Several inmates testified that they hadn’t been properly cared for and became more ill. Erika Ramsdale, a UVA oncologist who treated a FCCW terminal cancer patient, testified that her patient missed an appointment with no notice and was denied her prescriptions.

In Scott’s testimony, she described an inmate who wasn’t treated for a hand “with pus coming out of it,” and was told by nurses it was because the medication was too expensive. Without treatment, Scott’s fellow inmate continued her job in the kitchen.

Scott, who has a history of blood clots, said six months passed between the time her leg started swelling and she was able to get an ultrasound.

“My toes were blue,” she said. “The bottom of my foot was ice cold.”

After she had to cut her own sock off with nail clippers and nurses acknowledged the swelling, she was rushed to UVA where a doctor prescribed blood-thinning shots twice a day and blood tests every week. Scott testified that it took a few days for the nurses to determine a correct prescription and, eventually, she said a prison doctor took her off the blood-thinning shots. When her toes turned blue again, she was taken back to UVA where a doctor said she never should have been taken off the blood thinner. Scott has not had access to her blood thinner prescription since December 2013.

A compliance monitor for the prison, Dr. Nicholas Scharff, will visit the prison every quarter if the settlement is reached. The judge has until December 21 to sign the settlement and it is expected that he will. After the hearing, Judge Moon thanked and congratulated the people in the courtroom for working to correct the situation, calling it “a great service.”

Hoping to have her rights recognized, Scott said, “We’ve made mistakes, but we’re still human beings.”