Circumstances kept slaying suspect Hagans free

Christopher E. Hagans
By JON FRANK, The Virginian-Pilot
© November 16, 2006

VIRGINIA BEACH - Christopher E. Hagans might have been in jail last weekend, when a woman was killed at a Hilltop shopping center, if prosecutors had asked a judge to put him there based on an earlier theft conviction.

Hagans' defense attorney said Wednesday that the judge in that case probably would have kept Hagans in jail if prosecutors had asked.

Prosecutors said Wednesday that they didn't ask because they didn't know the extent of Hagans' criminal record. ok, first off the damn DA when entering a court of law to prosecute someone should have done a full background check. Why wasn't this done.. I say it because most of the DA's and ADA's in VA are lazy as hell. They only watch out for their careers..

"We should have moved to revoke his bond, had we known these other crimes had been committed," Commonwealth's Attorney Harvey Bryant said Wednesday.
here they going singing their's shoulda, coulda, woulda, and now there is a lost of life..
Hagans, a 19-year-old Norfolk high school dropout, is accused of shooting and killing Elisabeth Kelly Reilly early Saturday evening in a parking lot near Stein Mart at the Hilltop North Shopping Center. He was arrested Sunday in Norfolk.

Hagans - charged with murder, robbery and a weapons violation - could face the death penalty. He is being held in the city jail pending a Nov. 27 hearing. we all know he will pay with his life, for what he did, and for the mistake the DA make in this case....


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Over the past year, Hagans has been charged with 15 crimes - all nonviolent, mostly misdemeanors - in Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Norfolk and Newport News. He has three convictions, among them a felony, receiving stolen goods in Virginia Beach. Hagans pleaded guilty March 28 and received a three-year, suspended prison sentence. He remained free pending his good behavior. Still pending are three felony charges in Chesapeake.

On June 24, Hagans was arrested again in Virginia Beach and accused of five non violent crimes, ranging from petty larceny to credit card theft.

At a hearing Sept. 14, General District Judge Pamela Hutchens granted Hagans a $2,500 personal recognizance appeal bond after Hagans pleaded guilty to petty larceny, a misdemeanor.

As a result, Hagans remained free pending his appeal of the larceny conviction to Circuit Court, where it is still pending.

At the same court hearing, Hagans also waived a preliminary hearing on a felony charge of credit card theft. He is set to be tried on that charge, and re-tried on the petty larceny charge, in January.

Hutchens sentenced Hagans to a year in jail on the larceny charge. Hagans appealed the sentence, posted his bail - which required no money - and was released. Yet here I thought that after conviction ever after you apply for a appealed, you should had placed sometype of bail...

Prosecutors did not oppose the bail. I wonder why..

Hagans' lawyer, Janee Joslin, said Hutchens has a reputation for being very tough on appeal bails and probably would not have granted Hagans bail had she known the defendant's record.

Mark A. Andrews, the Virginia Beach prosecutor who handled the case, said Wednesday that he did not provide the information to Hutchens at the hearing.
I guess he thought it wasn't his job...
He said he did not check the court computer record before the hearing.

Bryant said his prosecutors do not check records at the preliminary hearing stage because they do not have the time or manpower to do so. It doesn't not take that long to check, hell anyone with a computer can check for crimial records of each city, with just a name search..

"It would be great if we could check every defendant in every city," Bryant said, but "I would need six or seven more people if we were going to check all the localities." once again i thought all these courts are networked together through the Information Technologies Agency
Bryant said his staff handles 16,000 cases a year, making it the state's second-busiest office. Also, Bryant said, no other city made an effort to keep Hagans in jail this year. what an excuse, i was juzt to busy to do my job

"This was not a violent guy, from what everybody thought, on the face of it," Bryant said. wasn't the same thing said abou the son of sam and few other serial killers

But he acknowledged that had he known of Hagans' criminal record, it would have made a difference. just another asshole tring to cover his ass. for his major fuck up...

Feds Indict Sheriff, Employees In Racketeering

ROANOKE, Va. -- Henry County Sheriff Frank Cassell and 12 of his employees have been indicted on federal charges in an alleged drug-related racketeering conspiracy.

A U.S. Postal Service employee, a probation officer and five citizens were also charged in the indictment, which was unsealed Thursday.

U.S. Attorney John Brownlee rolled off the list of charges during a press conference Thursday.


The 48-count indictment alleges drugs and guns seized by the Henry County Sheriff's Department were turned around and sold back to the community.

"You have law enforcement risking their lives to take these guns off the streets," Brownlee said. "Then a very few other members of law enforcement putting them right back there, not to mention cocaine, crack, and others."

Brownlee said it was corruption by a sheriff and others who were turned to by the community during the Jennifer Short murder investigation.

In 2002, a Virginia couple was killed in their home and their 9-year-old daughter abducted.

The body of the girl, Jennifer Short, was found several weeks later beneath a bridge in Rockingham County. No one has been charged in the slayings.

Charges in the indictment -- handed down on Tuesday -- include racketeering, narcotics distribution, obstruction of justice and perjury.

Federal agents arrested most of the defendants early Thursday morning.

The indictment alleges that beginning in 1998, drugs seized by the sheriff's office were sold to citizens for distribution. The drugs include cocaine, marijuana, steroids and the sedative Ketamine.

Cassell was charged with impeding the investigation by federal agents, who began their probe in March of last year.

He has been sheriff of Henry County since 1992, and his department has 122 employees, including 96 sworn law enforcement officers.

News of the arrest left the community shaken.

"It hurts a whole lot, I'm saddened by the situation," said resident Jack Cristall.

I ALL WAYS KNEW THAT THERE WAS WAY TOO MANY DIRTY COPS IN VA, AND LETS NOT FORGET THOSE THAT WORKS IN THE COURTS AS WELL... I STILL HAVE TO WONDER HOW MANY OF THESE DIRTY COPS ARE STILL AROUND AND HOW MANY ARE IN CHESAPEAKE....

Todays Topics

TODAY WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THE RECENT FEDERAL ROUND OF CRIMINALS CALLED Operation FALCON III ... I WOULD HAVE TO ASK WHY WAIT SO LONG TO DO THESE ROUND,, SIMPLY CAUSE LARGE NUMBER MAKE IT SEEM THE FED'S AND LOCAL COPS ARE DOING THERE JOBS....



Nationally, Operation FALCON task-force members arrested 10,773 people, including 1,659 sex offenders and 364 documented gang members.

NOW IN VIRGINIA A WILL ARREST YOUR ASS STATE FOR ANYTHING HAD THESE ADD TO THE LIST

Eleven unregistered sex offenders also were arrested along with five gang members, and four handguns and 40 capsules of heroin were seized.

Local investigators also cleared 379 warrants, federal prosecutors said.

IT'S FUNNY THEY ALWAYS START OF WITH THE SEX CRIMES, FIRST.... THESE DAY JUST LOOKING SOMEONE WITH YOU MOUTH OPEN IS CRIME, OR IT SOON WILL BE.. IN TIME THE COUNTRY CITIZENS WILL HAVE FELONIES RECORDS FOR SOMETHING.. SINCE THE STATE IS MAKING EVERY CRIME A FELONY THESE DAYS.... SOON A DAMN SPEEDING TICKET WILL BE A FELONY.....

Ex-Gays Draw Criticism

For years, gay rights groups have struggled for social and political equality. Now, a campaign is underway to raise awareness and support the rights of those who have chosen to abstain from homosexual lifestyles, and they are being met with criticism from the gay community.“I don’t put any credit in the ex-gay movement,” Harmony president, sophomore Matt Winer, said. Winer, who is gay, said the ex-gay movement is an attempt by a homophobic society to change homosexuals for its comfort.Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX) is a national secular nonprofit organization providing outreach, education and public awareness in support of the ex-gay community and families touched by homosexuality.

The organization upholds that people have a right to self-determination and that with information and support, individuals can overcome “unwanted homosexual attractions” said Regina Griggs, the executive director of PFOX.PFOX has joined forces with Liberty Counsel — a Florida-based litigation organization — to launch the “Change is Possible” campaign. The coalition recognizes tolerance and diversity are popular ideals in today’s society, but that “there has been a corresponding increase in discrimination and intolerance toward those who have made the decision to leave homosexuality,” according to an April 12 press release from PFOX.In response to the commonplace institution of “Safe-Zone” stickers and diversity days that promote the message that homosexuals are born gay, the “Change is Possible” campaign encourages high school and college students to hang fliers and make announcements on their campuses about the existence of ex-gays.

The campaign also encourages students to start gay to straight clubs, insist on the ex-gay viewpoint, and to contact Liberty Counsel if they are prevented from doing so.“Schools adopt nondiscriminatory policies and curriculum and give teachers diversity training, but the ex-gay perspective is left-out,” said Rena Lindevaldsen, senior litigation counsel for Liberty Counsel.Lindevaldsen claims that hundreds of thousands of people have successfully left homosexuality.“If you want to change, you can,” she said.According to Griggs, PFOX does not encourage change among homosexuals who are comfortable with their identity, but rather people who do not want to experience homosexual attractions.

Griggs said major opposition to this idea comes from the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transsexual and Questioning community, which denies the existence of ex-gays.Kristen Brady, sophomore vice president of Harmony said, “Harmony feels sexual orientation is something you can’t change. Fundamentalist Christian groups want [homosexuals] to suppress it. We want people to be who they are.”According to its Web site, Liberty Counsel is a nonprofit litigation, education and policy organization “dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of human life and the traditional family.”

A self-proclaimed Christian legal organization, supporters include conservative activist Jerry Falwell, the president of Liberty University in Lynchburg.Both PFOX and Harmony offer support free from religious influence to people who question their sexual orientation. Neither group assumes individuals choose homosexual attraction. The groups differ, however, in their understanding of the inherency and permanence of sexual attraction.

“It would be very discouraging to tell you that you couldn’t overcome [homosexual attraction],” Griggs said.

Winer said, “For them to say we never explored the idea that we could be straight is laughable.”Supporters of former gays believe that unwanted homosexual attractions can be overcome. GLBTQ claims sexual orientation is inherent, and although it can be ignored, it cannot be changed. Neither group recognizes the position of the other and Winer, Brady and Lindevaldsen agree that this discrepancy is key in each group’s explanation for why they simply cannot work together.from The Breeze

Today's Bitch Slap Congress

Hate Crimes Bill Droppedby Paul Johnson, 365Gay.com Washington Bureau Chief


(Washington) Legislation that would have included crimes against gays and lesbians in federal hate crime laws has been dropped in the Senate.
Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass) has been trying to get the measure passed since 1999. This session he tacked it onto a national sex offender bill.
The sex offender registry bill has been tied up in the Senate for months as Kennedy fought to have the hate crime provision passed.
Late last week he pulled the amendment allowing the sex offender bill to pass unanimously after Republicans threatened to block passage of the sex offender legislation pin the blame on "liberal Democrats" and gay activists.
Kennedy vowed to once again introduce the legislation in the next session.
"Congress can't ignore the problem," he said. "They send the poisonous message that some Americans deserve to be victimized solely because of who they are."
A House version of the hate crime bill passed the House earlier this year, as an amendment to the Children's Safety and Violent Crimes Reduction Act. The hate crime provision, which would have included gays, lesbians and the transgendered was later stripped out of the bill.
The bill would have allowed the Department of Justice to assist local authorities in investigating and prosecuting cases in which violence occurs.
Extending hate crimes law to include members of the LGBT community is endorsed by more than 175 law enforcement, civil rights, civic and religious organizations, including: the National Sheriffs' Association, International Association of Chiefs of Police, U.S. Conference of Mayors, and the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association.

Mom Kidnapped Son, Feared Dad ' Turning Him Gay'

by Fidel Ortega, 365Gay.com Miami Bureau
May 3, 2006 - 12:01 am ET
(Miami, Florida) A woman has told a Florida court that she kidnapped her 11-year old son and fled the country because she believed her former husband was turning the boy gay.
Caren MacDonald is accused of custody interference. She took the boy from a Ft. Lauderdale school in 2001 and went to Costa Rica. They remained there for four years but was arrested by U.S. Customs agents in June 2002 in Houston as she disembarked from an airplane that had arrived from Costa Rica.
The boy is now 16 and lives in Colorado with his father.
If convicted MacDonald could face up to five years in prison.
She said that she and her husband were married in 1988. The following year she became pregnant and the couple divorced in 1997.
It was at that time he came out and began a relationship with another man. To protect the identity of the child the names of the boy, his father and partner are not being published.
MacDonald and her husband fought for custody of the boy. During the dispute a court ordered psychiatrist testified that MacDonald was unstable and a judge awarded sole custody to the father. MacDonald was ordered to have no contact with the boy.
During her testimony in the criminal case MacDonald attempted to portray her ex-husband and his partner as sexual predators.
''I didn't understand how somebody could be straight and then be gay,'' MacDonald said.
She also accused the partner of massaging the boy on his buttocks several times, an allegation she also had made at the custody hearing. But last week the boy testified that there had been no inappropriate behavior and that his mother has forced him to lie at the custody hearing about being molested.