By Senator Mark Obenshain
Last
week, the Governor unveiled his partial plan for reopening Virginia as
we continue to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Initially Northam’s
Health Commissioner was quoted as saying that the first phase of this
plan would last two years with measures such as continued use of face
coverings, teleworking and only some businesses reopening.
I
wanted to see what Virginians’ opinions were of that so I ran a poll on
my Facebook page asking people to react to the claim that we would be
in phase one for potentially two years. In 48 hours, over 5,700 people
responded with 95% saying they thought two years was too long.
Apparently,
the Governor's office received feedback. Since then, they walked back
their two-year projection and have announced that as of today, the ban
on non-emergency/elective medical procedures will be lifted.
Earlier
this week, I along with the rest of the Republican Senate Caucus
leadership team sent a letter to Governor Northam demanding further
answers and clarity on his plan to reopen Virginia. You can read that HERE. Stay tuned on if he responds and what his answer will be.
Election Update
I’ve
sent emails in the past regarding the Governor’s attempts to completely
circumvent local autonomy by moving all May local elections to line up
with Presidential, U.S. Senate and Congressional elections in November.
Thankfully, in last week’s reconvened session, the Senate defeated that
measure on a strong bipartisan vote.
Integrity of local elections saved.
The
Governor has since used his executive authority to move the date of the
elections back to weeks from May 5 to May 19 and those with health
concerns can safely cast absentee ballots.
Parole
A
few weeks ago, I wrote on Facebook about the Virginia Parole Board’s
decision to release Vincent Martin, a convicted murderer who killed a
Richmond police officer in 1979. You can read the article covering the
Parole Board’s decision by clicking HERE.
I
wish I could say that this was the only decision by the Virginia Parole
Board in recent weeks that caught my eye. Sadly, this is not the case.
In
2012, Debra Scribner was convicted of first-degree murder, conspiracy
to commit first degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a
murder in connection with the shooting death of her son-in-law in
Halifax County. She had barely served a third of her sentence and the
parole board did not even follow proper procedures in coming to the
decision to release her. Read more coverage of the Scribner release by
clicking HERE.
Thirdly,
it was recently reported that Tyson Xavier Golden was granted release
in January with certification coming March 30. He was one of three men
charged after a string of violent home invasions in Roanoke that
culminated in the beating to death of 91-year-old Larry White. Three
blows from the butt of a pistol fractured White’s skull. Read more about
that case by clicking HERE.
Finally,
there is inmate Robert Clark who is serving multiple life sentences for
capital murder, robbery and two counts of use of a firearm from a 1994
conviction in Halifax County. The Parole Board granted him parole on
April 10 and his release back into the community is scheduled for May 4.
There
was reporting in three of the aforementioned instances of the Parole
Board not following proper procedures in notifying the Commonwealth’s
Attorney in the county or city in which the crime occurred (required by
VA Code section 53.1-136).
Further,
the Governor is reportedly now trying to give people the impression
that the only prisoners being released these days are nonviolent
offenders. That could not be farther from the truth. The Governor
proposed language purportedly aimed at reducing prison populations to
address the COVID-19 crisis. That language, granted authority to the
Department of Corrections to immediately release to any prisoner with
less than one year remaining on his sentence prisoners, except those
convicted of a class 1 felony or a sexually violent offense, . The only
class 1 felony in Virginia is capital murder. On a party line vote in
the Senate, Democrats approved this language amendment. That means that
people convicted of first degree or second-degree murder, armed robbery,
drug distribution and malicious wounding, among many others are
immediately eligible for release.
The
policy implications of the Governor’s budget amendments coupled with
the decisions by his parole board to release dangerous murderers back
onto Virginia’s streets is appalling. I will be doing everything in my
power to prevent the parole or early release of violent and dangerous
felons.
Since
the abolition of Virginia’s liberal and lenient system of parole in the
1990s, communities across Virginia have been safer. When juries have
given a convicted murderer a life sentence, they have done so with
confidence that life means life. We can’t return to that old and broken
system.
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