A bill on the desk of Gov. Terry McAuliffe would require Virginia schools to mark the transcripts of students involved in misconduct, in hopes of stopping sexual predators from transferring to unsuspecting schools.
The bill was informally named after Jesse Matthew, the man charged in the death of University of Virginia student Hannah Graham. Graham was last seen leaving a downtown Charlottesville restaurant with Matthew last September; her remains were discovered a few weeks later.
McAuliffe introduced a similar bill. An earlier version would have required a prominent notation on the transcripts of students who withdraw while under investigation for sex crimes.
The version on the governor’s desk, however, broadened the language to include a transcript notation for any student “who has been suspended for, has been permanently dismissed for, or withdraws from the institution while under investigation for a violation of the institution’s code.”
Jessie Matthew charged with first degree murder in Hannah Graham death
CHARLOTTESVILLE — A man from the Charlottesville area has been charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of University of Virginia student Hannah Graham, officials in Albemarle County announced Tuesday.
Jesse L. Matthew Jr., 33, was previously charged with Graham’s abduction after authorities said he was the last person seen with the 18-year-old from Fairfax County before she disappeared from Charlottesville in September. Her body was found in a wooded area about 10 miles from campus weeks later.
Matthew also has been charged with abduction with intent to defile, indicating that police believe he intended to sexually assault Graham. Matthew faces the possibility of life in prison if convicted.
Lunsford said she chose not to seek a capital murder charge, which carries a potential death sentence. Virginia law allows it in homicide cases that allegedly involve an abduction or sexual assault. Lunsford would not discuss her reasoning but said the decision came after consulting with Graham’s family and weighing the impact on the community.
“The charges that the jury will hear are the charges that the prosecutor feels comfortable to bring,” Lunsford said.
NCSI investigation: another affair, another reassignment, an unexplained death?
NCSI investigates an unexplained death at Gitmo. The naval commander at Gitmo has been exposed for an affair with the dead man’s wife and has been reassigned to a base in Florida. Commander Nettleton has not been charged with anything specific but adultery is a crime under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Does Gitmo need any more negative attention than it has already received?
Phi Kappa Psi reinstated at UVA–not guilty of wrongdoing
CHARLOTTESVILLE — A police investigation has cleared a University of Virginia fraternity of any involvement in an alleged gang rape that was detailed in a Rolling Stone magazine story last year, with authorities saying there was “no basis to believe that an incident occurred” at the Phi Kappa Psi house.
U-Va. President Teresa A. Sullivan approved the full reinstatement of the fraternity chapter Monday after police detectives did not find “any substantive basis to confirm that the allegations raised in the article occurred at Phi Kappa Psi,” university officials said. The announcement came as classes here resumed for the spring semester and three days after Sullivan lifted a months-long freeze on campus Greek life.
The reinstatement also allows Phi Psi to join the ranks of fraternities and sororities now beginning recruitment activities, known as Rush, this week.
“We welcome Phi Kappa Psi, and we look forward to working with all fraternities and sororities in enhancing and promoting a safe environment for all,” Sullivan said in a statement.
Charles C. Johnson blubbers like a baby
It’s 7:30 p.m. on Monday night, and the day’s most vilified blogger is driving somewhere in California, though he declines to specify where, and with whom. As he talks into the telephone, he confesses he feels hunted: He’s recording the conversation. Someone has already hacked him that day. He’s deluged with threats. His mom, he said, “is worried about me and worried about herself.”
This is Charles C. Johnson, the one-time Daily Caller contributor who just outed a woman he claims is Rolling Stone’s “Jackie,” whose widely-trumpeted gang-rape account at a University of Virginia fraternity has now come under suspicion. And today, Johnson sighed, has been quite a day. Jezebel called him “vile.” Slate called him a “vicious troll.” The Frisky called him a “complete piece of s–t.” Others, some of whom criticized Twitter for failing to censor his allegedly revelatory tweets, have been even less kind.
Whine. Johnson seems to be one of those who can dish it out but doesn’t know how to take it. He has been vile. He had defied acceptable public behavior. He has been called out.
Before the Rolling Stone article, I mercifully had no clue who Charles C. Johnson even was. I had never heard of him. In fact, the first I heard of him was on Moonhowlings.
Rolling Stone recants, issues an apology
Washingtonpost.com:
CHARLOTTESVILLE — A University of Virginia student’s harrowing description of a gang rape at a fraternity, detailed in a recent Rolling Stone article, began to unravel Friday as interviews revealed doubts about significant elements of the account. The fraternity issued a statement rebutting the story, and the magazine apologized for a lapse in judgment and backed away from the article.
Is sexual assault everywhere?
The number of U.S. troops who reported that they had been sexually assaulted rose by 8 percent over the past year, Defense Department officials said, a statistic that will further fuel a debate in Congress over whether the military is effectively prosecuting sex crimes.
While most sexual-assault victims still are apparently unwilling to come forward, a Pentagon study that will be released Thursday found gradual progress in that area. The report estimates that 24 percent of all victims filed reports during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, up from 11 percent two years earlier, according to officials briefed on the details.
The Pentagon has been under pressure to show it has made progress in preventing and prosecuting sex offenses, amid threats by lawmakers that they may overhaul the military justice system and strip commanders of their power to oversee such cases
Campus sexual assault: Let’s not stop at UVA
RICHMOND – Legislative support is coalescing behind a proposal to require that university officials quickly turn rape allegations over to law enforcement, or potentially face prosecution themselves.
A trio of Republican House leaders backed the requirement Monday, though they didn’t spell out potential punishments. In the state Senate, Democratic Minority Leader Richard Saslaw said last week that he’s working on a similar bill, and that he’ll attach the possibility of a year-long prison sentence for violators.
UVA Sullivan sends Greek life to time out until Jan. 9
Her decision will not be popular. UVA President Teresa Sullivan has banned fraternities and sororities at UVA until Jan. 9. No one is quite sure what “Ban” means at this point. For now, all we can do is speculate. Since students live in fraternities and sororities, it would be fairly difficult to re-house all of them. However, Sullivan can and should shut down all social activities until January 9.
UVA assaults: A national disgrace
The harrowing account of a gang rape at a University of Virginia fraternity house described in a new Rolling Stone article roiled the campus Friday, with students, faculty members and parents questioning the administration’s response to the allegations.
The article, in the pop culture magazine’s December issue and posted online this week, describes a brutal sex assault that allegedly occurred in the Phi Kappa Psi house in 2012. The victim, who is given an alias in the article, said a member of the fraternity led her upstairs during a party and took her to a dark room, where numerous men pinned her to the floor and attacked her.
The victim later describes a underwhelming response from university officials, whom she contacted about the attack, according to Rolling Stone. She did not file a police report.
After the story appeared online, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) called for the university to begin a thorough investigation into the matter, and Charlottesville police said they are investigating the allegations at the request of the university’s president, Teresa Sullivan.
U-Va. Vice President Patricia Lampkin said the article has “deeply affected” the university community.
Flip Benham harasses gay weddings in NC
With gay marriage now legal in North Carolina, it was only a matter of time before Flip Benham of Operation Save America started crashing wedding ceremonies for same-sex couples. The North Carolina-based pastor, who is the father of Religious Right activists David and Jason Benham, reportedly disrupted several weddings at the Mecklenburg County and Courts Office in Charlotte last week. Benham’s group, which in July disrupted a memorial service at a Unitarian Universalist congregation in New Orleans, “interrupted several couples’ weddings as supporters held up a large rainbow flag to block his view,” according to the North Carolina LGBT publication Q Notes. “Another protester waved a bible in the air as he screamed several profanities and vulgarities.”
Child sex abuse? Rule of Law! Rule of Law!!
Mike Hethmon, for those of you who do not remember, was one of the outside sources giving Prince William County legal advice on how to write their “Rule of Law Resolution.” There are just some things that come back and bite you in the ass. This is one of them. Surely Prince William County could seek advice from someone who didn’t have this alleged dirty little secret.
Don’t expect other blogs to be covering this tawdry story. I am sure it will be brushed under the rug. The anti-immigration blog might be crawling back under its rock with this news.
Mike Hethmon tried to protect us from anchor babies. If this charge is true, who is going to protect the anchor babies and all the rest of the children from Mike Hethmon?
Mike Hethmon advises US on Rule of Law????
Mike Hethmon is innocent until proven guilty.
The ex Va Governor’s Mansion: The Divine Soap Opera?
RICHMOND — Former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell (R) and his wife on Tuesday unveiled an unorthodox defense to the federal corruption charges against them: Maureen McDonnell had a “crush” on the charismatic executive who lavished gifts and cash on the couple.
Maureen McDonnell’s intense — even romantic — interest in Jonnie R. Williams Sr. helps explain why she let him pay for expensive shopping trips and vacations for her and her family while she promoted a nutritional supplement he was trying to sell, defense attorneys said during opening statements. She was not hatching a scheme with her husband to get rich by abusing the prestige of the governor’s office; rather, she was a woman in a broken marriage who craved attention.
“Jonnie Williams was larger than life to Maureen McDonnell,” said William Burck, Maureen McDonnell’s lead defense attorney. “But unlike the other man in her life, Jonnie Williams paid attention to Maureen McDonnell.”
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All about Margaret Sanger…let the discussion rest here
I am asking that any discussion of Margaret Sanger stay on this thread. There are serious issues in our community and none of them have one damn thing to do with Margaret Sanger.
I think it is important to note that all historical figures must be evaluated in their own place and time. Additionally, the language changes over time. Let’s start with Thomas Jefferson, one of my favorite historical figures.
I grew up in the shadow of Thomas Jefferson, in Charlottesville, Virginia. I lived in a house off of Rugby Road less than three blocks from Mr. Jefferson’s University. In Charlottesville, everything is Jefferson. He is our hometown hero. He, Jack Joutte and Paul Goodloe McIntire are the three most mentioned town heroes. Jefferson’s influence is certainly national in scope. He is the author of the Declaration of Independence, Revolution visionary, one of the most prominent thinkers of his time, inventor, statesman, diplomat, first secretary of state and president for two terms.
