Virginia rarely asks its jurors to travel
The New River Valley-based reporter answers your questions Mondays in his column, What's on Your Mind? Q: Instead of moving the capital murder trial of ...

Q: Instead of moving the capital murder trial of William Morva to another jurisdiction, why couldn't another jury be brought here? It would mean bringing 14 people here instead of 100 to another town.

-- Ken Lively, Dublin

A: The trial has been delayed because of the difficulty of finding open-minded jurors in Montgomery County, the locality where the killings of a sheriff's office corporal and a hospital security guard took place a year ago.

The prosecution, the defense and the witnesses will have to go elsewhere in search of an impartial jury.

The judge could have used an obscure bit of Virginia law to bring in a jury, said Diane Strickland, a retired Circuit Court judge for Roanoke, Roanoke County and Salem. It's actually a piece of civil code that has been used in criminal cases, she explained.

But that, she said, has been done only a few times, probably because judges realize what a hardship it would be on jurors.

"It is quite an inconvenience to the jurors," she said.

Almost everyone else involved in the trial is an interested party, she said, but jurors are not only disinterested, but also scarcely paid for their service.

"We already ask quite a bit of jurors," she said.

Q: I met with former Del. Jackie Stump, who is now on the Virginia Parole Board, to speak on behalf of a prisoner who has been incarcerated for 25 years. If I understood him correctly, he said that when a prisoner "comes up" for parole, the five Parole Board members do not meet and discuss the case, but rather each is given a sheaf of papers to read and they then cast their vote via Internet. What assurance does a prisoner have that his or her exemplary behavior in prison is even noted by the Parole Board members?

-- James and Maryanne Davidson, Rocky Gap

A: Yes, the parole board considers an inmate's "good behavior," which is part of what they call "institutional adjustment."

However, board Chairwoman Helen Fahey told me that there are a lot of other factors.

The five members of the board also consider what they heard from people who addressed the board in person.

These might include the inmate's friends and family, the victim's family or even the victim.

The board will also weigh an inmate's age, health and the amount of time served. They may want to know if the inmate can get a job once released or if there's family support waiting.

But one thing looms over all of these: the severity of the crime.

"That is the most important consideration," said Fahey, a former federal prosecutor from Arlington.

"The board always looks at all the factors," she said, but those who have committed brutal crimes will not find it easy to overcome their own history. "It really is a balancing with the crime."

Board members do indeed make their decisions individually. Each member votes yes or no, then passes the case on to another member, until the case gets three votes either way. (This is why pleading your case to a single board member may not be enough. That member may never see the case.)

There are manuals, recommendations and an experienced staff to assist, but the decisions are made by the members, and they are "a tremendous weight," said Fahey.

The happiness of families, the nightmares of victims and the safety of the rest of us are all at stake.

On the Net: Virginia Parole Board: www.vadoc.state.va.us/vpb/

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