The headline looks shocking - Cuccinelli blocks innocent man's release.
Read the story, and Cuccinelli agrees the man should be released.
It just needs to be done right - according to the law. Even though it's hard for the family.
On Friday, Hampton Circuit Judge Randolph T. West tossed Montgomery’s felony convictions and ordered him released from prison.
But when relatives went to pick Montgomery up at the prison in Jarratt, they learned Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli’s office had declared the order invalid because the judge lacked jurisdiction.
“This is a tragedy, and the attorney general is very concerned about it,” Cuccinelli spokesman Brian Gottstein said in an email. “However, Virginia law will not allow the release.”
Montgomery likely will need to ask the state court of appeals to declare him innocent before he can be released, but Cuccinelli would support such a petition as he has in other wrongful conviction cases, Gottstein said.
If you'd followed Ken Cuccinelli as Attorney General, he follows the law as written. If it needs to be changed, there are ways to do it.
The right way.
1 comment:
Since you are the only blog I've seen defending Cuccinelli thus far, I wonder if you could cite me the code section that says Cuccinelli is just following the law. The closest I've been able to find is...
§ 19.2-303. Suspension or modification of sentence; probation; taking of fingerprints and blood, saliva, or tissue sample as condition of probation.
"If a person is sentenced to jail upon conviction of a misdemeanor or a felony, the court may, at any time before the sentence has been completely served, suspend the unserved portion of any such sentence, place the person on probation for such time as the court shall determine, or otherwise modify the sentence imposed.
If a person has been sentenced for a felony to the Department of Corrections but has not actually been transferred to a receiving unit of the Department, the court which heard the case, if it appears compatible with the public interest and there are circumstances in mitigation of the offense, may, at any time before the person is transferred to the Department, suspend or otherwise modify the unserved portion of such a sentence. The court may place the person on probation for such time as the court shall determine."
Which appears to support Cuccinelli's stance, however it is pretty ambiguous regarding how exactly one's sentence can be vacated.
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