Virginia to consider reducing sentence for assaulting police

Virginia lawmakers plan to undertake dozens of criminal justice reforms during a special legislative session this week, but one proposal in particular is expected to spark an intense battle: a push to change a law that allows police to charge people with serious assault even if the arresting officers are not seriously injured.

A bill by Senate Democrats would downgrade the assault and battery charge of a law enforcement officer from a felony to a misdemeanor.

The proposal is one of a series of reforms drafted in Virginia since the May 25 assassination of George Floyd by Minneapolis police sparked a nationwide protest movement. Lawmakers will also consider bills to prohibit the use of police strangleholds and arrest warrants, improve the ability of courts to expunge criminal records and remove jury sentences, except when requested by defendants.

Senator Scott Surovell, the main sponsor of the assault and battery bill, said he would eliminate the current mandatory minimum sentence of six months in jail and change the law so that the charge can only be filed as a felony if an officer has a visible physical examination. injury. Surovell said he is also considering adding provisions that require another officer, not the officer who arrested him, to investigate the circumstances and for a prosecutor to approve the charge.

Critics of the current law say police overuse prosecution, particularly in cases where they fear the person they arrested will claim police brutality.

“It’s a charge that tends to come up every time officers get into a fight with someone,” Surovell said. The Virginia legislature declared the charge a felony in 1997, at a time when states across the country and Congress were passing “tough on crime” laws. The enhanced penalty for assaulting law enforcement officers also applies to judges, magistrates, prison officers, firefighters, and emergency medical services personnel.

Marie Dantio, from Alexandria, was arrested in 2013 when she went to a church in the middle of the night to try to see a priest. Dantio, who is mentally ill and homeless at the time, said he did not immediately respond to Fairfax County police officers who responded to a search call.

Dantio said officers pushed her to the ground. An officer alleged that Dantio injured his hand. Dantio said he spent two months in jail and eventually pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge in exchange for dropping the felony assault charge. He said he lost his job as a nursing assistant due to his arrest.

“I feel very sad,” Dantio said. “I know I didn’t.”

Lt. Erica Webb, a spokeswoman for the Fairfax County Police, declined to comment on Dantio’s claims or the extent of the officer’s injury.

“While detaining Ms. Dantio, he assaulted an officer and injured him,” Webb wrote in an email.

States across the country have a patchwork of laws covering assaults on law enforcement officers. Some states allow the charge to be filed as a misdemeanor or felony, depending on the circumstances, while other states do not have a separate law, but allow enhanced penalties for assaults on police, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. .

The proposal to lower the job in Virginia is expected to face fierce opposition from the police and Republican lawmakers.

Dana Schrad, executive director of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police, said nationwide protests since Floyd’s murder have shown “unprecedented levels” of anger toward police.

“We should do more to protect officers rather than send a message that assaulting them is not a serious crime,” Schrad said.

Republican Minority Leader Senator Tommy Norment said he finds it “unfathomable” that Democrats are calling for reduced penalties, given repeated violent clashes between police and protesters during recent protests in Richmond.

“Very frankly, for those who defend it, particularly in the current lawless atmosphere, I wonder what they’ve been smoking,” he said.

Norment is sponsoring a bill that would increase the mandatory minimum sentence from six months to one year in jail. For assaults on the police during a state of emergency, the mandatory minimum would increase to two years.

Stephen Hill was charged by Alexandria police last year while sitting outside a grocery store drinking wine. Hill, an army veteran who served in Afghanistan, said he was drunk at the time and struggling with substance abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Hill said he was moving slowly, intending to follow a police order to leave, when an officer grabbed his arm. His clavicle was broken, but he was not wearing a sling. He said he winced and struggled when officers handcuffed him behind his back.

Hill said he briefly held onto the officer’s duty belt to steady himself. The officer then slammed his face into the side of the patrol car and broke his nose, he said.

“I had no intention of doing anything wrong,” Hill said.

A spokesman for the Alexandria Police Department declined to immediately comment on Hill’s account.

Hill said he agreed to plead guilty to a reduced disorderly conduct charge because he faced a minimum of six months in jail on the felony battery charge.

“Once the offer was submitted, I didn’t have to risk the rest of my life with a felony on my record,” he said.