Reply to Josh Katcher just became Commonwealth’s Attorney in Arlington

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[quote=Anonymous]Since the facts continue to be misrepresented, here's a post the Chief Public Defender for Arlington made on the local Nextdoor message board where he lays out the facts and the law. In the 2+ weeks since he posted this, no one has disputed any of these facts or conclusions.

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LAW AND FACTS FROM THE BRAYLON MEADE CASE

A lot about the decision of whether to try the person who killed Braylon Meade as an adult has not been shared with the public. It is difficult to do so without risking being insensitive or compounding the family’s grief—and their well-being ought to be paramount. I have attempted to share some of the law and facts here in as neutral a way as possible.

I am chief public defender for Arlington County. The law and facts shared below are known among many in the courthouse. Last week I was able to confirm whats written below with multiple people who have first-hand knowledge (none from Tafti’s office). That’s the only reason I feel comfortable sharing. However, if anyone reads this and knows a detail to be inaccurate, please tell me and I will edit the post immediately.

- Tafti’s office never actually said they weren’t going to try the defendant as an adult. The plea offer implied that transfer to adult court remained a possibility. This lack of assurance that they would not transfer to adult court may have given the defendant an incentive to plead guilty. The defendant pled guilty to the most serious possible charge, which kept the case in the juvenile court.

Facts of the case

The strength of potential trial defenses is always a major factor in plea negotiations. The defense in this case believed they had a chance to win a trial on a DUI-manslaughter or vehicular manslaughter charge (a conviction on misdemeanor reckless driving was a certainty; the defenses would have been to felony liability only). Here’s why:

- To prove a DUI-manslaughter charge, the Commonwealth must first prove a DUI offense beyond a reasonable doubt, then prove beyond a reasonable doubt that it was the drunk driving — not even some other type of negligence — that directly caused the death. 
- The defendant was traveling very, very fast.
- But the defendant’s BAC was below 0.08.
- The “baby DUI” law in Virginia (Lower BAC requirement) doesn’t apply to DUI-manslaughter cases
- And the defense position was that there wasn’t much other than text messages that the prosecutor could use to prove impairment in court.
- In addition to DUI-manslaughter, the commonwealth could have pursued a manslaughter conviction based on the speed alone, without proving the DUI
- Virginia is a contributory negligence state; although primarily a civil doctrine, the same legal principle can be used to argue for acquittal in cases like this. 
- Braylon was making a mid-block u-turn when struck, which the defense was intending to argue was illegal and contributory 
- Based on the foregoing, the defense believed there was a chance of winning a manslaughter trial on either prosecution theory.
- This is in no way an endorsement of the defense theory. In fact, now that the defendant confessed his guilt and the judge found him guilty, the defense theory can be dismissed as untrue. The defendant admitted in court—and the court found—that he alone was responsible for Braylon’s death.
- I mention the defense position only because until the guilty plea, these were factors the parties had to consider, and they appear to have been a reason that the defendant wasn’t tried as an adult.

Juvenile Transfer

- It is very unlikely that any prosecutor or court anywhere in Virginia would have transferred this defendant for trial as an adult 
- Over the past 4 years, ZERO juveniles in the entire Commonwealth have been tried as adults for involuntary/vehicular manslaughter (only 4 yrs of data is available online)
- Arlington stopped trying juveniles as adults well before Tafti took over. The last person tried as an adult in Arlington was Max Adams, for killing his father in 2016 (then threatening to kill others from jail). Murder cases are automatically adult cases in Virginia.
- Had the Commonwealth tried to transfer to adult court and failed, there would have been less incentive for the defendant to plead guilty, and there would almost certainly have been a trial in juvenile court, which the government could have lost (not saying a loss was likely; just that there was some risk). Even if the government won the first trial, Virginia allows de novo appeals from district court convictions, meaning the defendant actually would have had two bites at the apple/two chances to avoid accountability for his crimes.

Sentence

- Virginia uses sentencing guidelines in adult cases, which judges follow or depart downward from more than 80% of the time.
- The defendant had no prior criminal record.
- Had he been transferred for trial as an adult, the adult sentencing guidelines would have recommended a low-end of 10 months, a mid-point of 1 year, 8 months, and a high-end of 2 yrs, 6 months.
- The median sentence for all Virginia vehicular manslaughter cases over the past 4 years, including involving defendants with prior criminal records and therefore much higher guidelines, is 2 years, 6 months.
- Parisa Tafti’s office asked for 3 years to serve—6 months above the defendant’s highest recommended adult sentence, and 6 months above the median sentence for all adult offenders.
- The probation officer is the one who recommended 1 year to serve.
- He also would have been the one who wrote the transfer report, which would have indicated that the defendant only met 2 of the more than 15 statutory factors required by the Code to be considered prior to trial as an adult.
- The probation officer is a supporter of and donor to Josh Katcher’s campaign (and actually, four years ago, the defense attorney in this case endorsed Theo Stamos).

Braylon Meade was a bright light in our community and his death was an extraordinary tragedy. My heart breaks for Braylon’s mom. No outcome is truly “just” in a situation like this. The outcome was the product of a legal process that was not unusual, though. I just don’t see how the outcome would have been different under Stamos, Trodden, Morrogh, Porter, or any other chief CA.
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