The Senate Judiciary Committee killed a bill that would have expanded the power of the Office of the Attorney General to conduct its own criminal prosecutions if requested by local law enforcement. The bill was on Attorney General Jason Miyares’ wishlist and would have allowed Miyares to intervene in cases where Miyares and the chief local law enforcement officer don’t like the way the local Commonwealth’s attorney handles a case.
Under Virginia law, the governor can already ask the attorney general to conduct criminal prosecutions, but otherwise, the attorney general’s local prosecutorial power is limited to some specific types of cases. Progressive prosecutors in some jurisdictions have pushed for more lenient sentences, or declined to prosecute certain kinds of cases; that’s frustrated conservatives who say prosecutors should represent the interest of the state, not the accused person.
State Senator Ryan McDougle (R-Hanover) introduced SB 563, which would have allowed the attorney general to intervene in cases involving an act of violence, when the investigating chief of police or sheriff requests. McDougle amended the bill in committee on Wednesday to focus specifically on sexual assault crimes, including misdemeanors, committed against children.
McDougle explained, “Any offense in the Commonwealth, if the governor asks, the attorney general can proceed to prosecute. the attorney general cannot prosecute cases other than that, unless they’re on this list. There are a number of items that are currently permissible, one of those is child pornography. We would be adding to that list, including the ability to prosecute child pornography, of items that are sexual offenses under title 18.2-61, and the victim is a minor.”
Louisa County Commonwealth’s Attorney Rusty McGuire told the committee that it would help to have the manpower of and expertise of the Office of the Attorney General to handle the complex cases covered by McDougle’s bill.
State Senator Joe Morrissey (D-Richmond) said, “It’s not just availing themselves of the resources of the attorney general’s office, but under this bill, the attorney general can step in and say, ‘I’m taking the case,’ even if the local Commonwealth’s attorney says, ‘No, you’re not.'”
McGuire said while that’s possible, it’s unusual under the way the process normally works.
“The AG’s office does not come in and just take a case,” McGuire said.
Senator Scott Surovell (D-Fairfax) said, “While I appreciate the process may have worked one way for a while, we have a new sheriff in town who views it a little differently, I’m a little worried about how he might view it.”
Chief Deputy Attorney General of Virginia Chuck Slemp spoke on behalf of the administration.
“I respectfully ask that this body report out Senator McDougle’s bill, because I think it’s important to help these innocent, helpless, most vulnerable victims that we see in our court system,” Slemp said.
Norfolk City Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi spoke on behalf of several progressive commonwealth attorneys.
He said, “Ronald Reagan once said the nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.’That is exactly what we are looking at here. This is a solution in search of a problem.”
“We do not need this bill,” Fatehi said. “We have our local voters to answer to. If we are under-prosecuting cases, look only to Lancaster County, where a sitting Commonwealth’s attorney was unseated for insufficient zeal in his prosecution.”
The committee voted to kill the bill. The Office of the Attorney General didn’t respond to a request for comment on how this might impact potential cases, but Governor Glenn Youngkin has already asked Miyares to initiate an investigation and potential prosecutions in Loudoun County against school administrators and the school board over sexual assaults that occurred on school property.
“Neither the Loudoun County School Board, nor the administrators of the Loudoun County school system, have been held accountable for deceiving the very Virginians they serve,” Youngkin said in Executive Order Four.
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Eric Burk is a reporter at The Virginia Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Sen. Joe Morrisey” by Senator Joe Morrissey. Photo “Jason Miyares” by Jason Miyares. Background Photo “Virginia State Capitol” by Martin Kraft CC BY-SA 3.0.
