Circumstances kept slaying suspect Hagans free (Prosecutorial Incompetence in Virginia)

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.

"We should have moved to revoke his bond, had we known these other crimes had been committed," Commonwealth's Attorney Harvey Bryant said Wednesday.

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.

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.

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.

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 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."

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.

"This was not a violent guy, from what everybody thought, on the face of it," Bryant said.

But he acknowledged that had he known of Hagans' criminal record, it would have made a difference.

I think that the complaints and anger are unfairly aimed specifically at the Commonwealth's Attorney's office. The problem is systemic.

Somebody asked how long it takes to look up somebody's records. It's a good question, and not so easily answerable as you might think. Where's the CA's office? How far is it from the various courts where the CA or assistance or deputies have to be? Are there adequate computers or an adequate link with the PD computers?

But the big question is how many such cases get cranked through General District Court v. how much time is alloted. The number of hearings and trials that get processed per year in our ONE general district court in this county is prodigious, in the tens of thousands.

It's worse in other places, I'm sure. I was on an extradition to a court in Brooklyn a few Decembers ago. It was truly amazing to observe the judge and the prosecutor exchanging verbal formulae as fast as they could speak, just to get through the incredible number of things they had to do that morning. My partner and I sat on benches which had to be designed for maximum discomfort for three hours, then took a lunch break, and then got our boy -- so we got to watch this stuff get churned out in numbers and at speeds that are simply unbelievable.

I know what many freepers think and feel about judges and law enforcement. But this is not really about the individuals, it's about an arrangement where vast amounts of our tax dollars are spent on transfer payments of various kinds. The very offices and courtrooms made available to deputies, commonwealth attorneys, and judges are inadequate.

Our Circuit Court is in a "sick" building. The chief bailiff finally had to quit that assignment because ho got some mold-induced disease. Our CA's are jammed into tiny spaces in the basement of the court building, and the sheriff's alleged office is across the hall. The deputies actually have morning "line-up" and their desks and most of their equipment in a rented building.

After the murders in Atlanta and some MAJOR foot-stomping by the Sheriff, the county is finally springing for a real "sally port" so that transferring prisoners from the "love bus" to the holding cells no longer has to go like this:

as you approach basement of court building turn on emergency equipment.
As you approach radio the office and tell them how many prisoners you have and ask if any one is available to help you get them into the holding cells.
When (if) traffic stops, back vehicle so that rear doors of love bus are facing doors of hallway.
One deputy tries to stop pedestrian traffic and
hopes that another deputy inside is clearing the hall.
Prisoners are helped out of the bus and escorted down hall - past commonwealth attorney offices, past stair way, past rest rooms, past sheriff's office - to holding cell area.

Then when the prisoners are supposed to be in court, depending on the judge they are maybe allowed to get into civilian clothes, maybe cuffed, maybe not, and walked to the elevator by two deputies if two are available, but one if that's all we have.

Sure, if it's a BIG bad guy, and if we know it, or if it's several big bad guys, we're a little better prepared. One set of hearings and trials involved 5 prisoners and maybe 20 deputies.

My Point, and I do have one, is that judges, lawyers, court rooms, deputies, etc. aren't cheap. Neither is "welfare". You don't get elected or re-elected if you spend money on cops, lawyers, and courts. You DO get elected and re-elected if you bribe the electorate with their own money.

So guess what you get? Prosecutors who don't or can't pull the file on all the bad guys, and Sheriffs who cut corners because they just don't have the personnel.

Yeah, if there were enough money there still would be mistakes, some egregious. But unless you know by observation that the Commonwealth attorney and assistance and deputies are goofing off, you cannot conclude it from a disaster like this one. There are too many elements, too systemic, too deeply entrenched, to be sure that every blunder is because of incompetence or laziness.

If half the people who came before our general district court as defendants took five more minutes for a computer check, that would add At LEAST 20 to 30 40-hour person-weeks to the year's work. No kidding.

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