Timing of Confederate statue charges against black lawmaker is ‘unsettling’, says governor of Virginia

A Virginia state senator was accused on Monday of damaging a Confederate statue during protests over two months ago, with the governor denouncing the timing of the charges against the veteran black lawmaker as ” deeply disturbing “.

Senator Louise Lucas faces charges of conspiracy to commit a felony and injury to a monument over $ 1,000, Portsmouth Police Chief Angela Greene said at a press conference. The protest took place on June 10.

Lucas, 76, a longtime Democratic lawmaker and key intermediary of power in the Senate, joined the chamber in 1992.

Members of the local NAACP chapter, a member of the local school board and members of the public defender’s office are also facing charges related to the protest. The charges were filed the same week that Virginia lawmakers undertake dozens of criminal justice reforms in a special legislative session.

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam condemned the charges.

“It is deeply disturbing that, on the verge of seeing Virginia pass a long overdue police reform, the first black woman to become our Senate Pro Tempore is suddenly faced with very unusual charges,” Northam wrote, also democrat in a tweet Monday. “@SenLouiseLucas, I can’t wait to see you tomorrow in Richmond – so we can get down to business.”

Greene has asked the public to help identify other people accused of being at the protest, based on photographs released by the police department.

The Portsmouth monument consists of a large obelisk and statues of four Confederate servicemen. During protests that drew hundreds of people in June, heads were torn from some statues while another was shot, seriously injuring a protester.

Calls for the removal of Confederate and Christopher Columbus monuments have intensified amid widespread protests against police brutality following the in-custody death of George Floyd on May 25 in Minneapolis. Some protesters across the country have taken matters into their own hands, while officials in other cities choose to dismantle them.

Greene did not specify exactly what Lucas or the others are accused of doing during the protest. But she said that “several people conspired and organized to destroy the monument and summon hundreds of people to join in criminal acts”.

The acts “have not only caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage to the monument, but also permanent injury to an individual,” Greene said. She said the man suffered “fatal” injuries, but did not say what they were.

Greene said requests have been made to state and federal authorities to conduct an independent investigation. And she said a discussion with the Commonwealth Prosecutor in Portsmouth “resulted in no action.”

“It was the duty of the Portsmouth Police Department to begin a full and thorough investigation,” Greene said.

Stephanie Morales, the lawyer for the Commonwealth of Portsmouth, did not approve the police department’s charges, a spokesperson for her office told NBC News.

An office statement released on Tuesday said it had not received the results of the protest investigation and that “the Portsmouth Police Department has chosen its traditional process of obtaining arrest warrants, although more than two months after the alleged events, instead of submitting the full results of the investigation to this office. “

The statement says the office is listed as a witness in the arrest warrants linked to the charges, even though “Ms. Morales was not at the scene to be an eyewitness to any of the matters listed.”

The office intends to file a motion to quash any subpoena served on it in the case, but “if that motion is denied and a special prosecutor is sought, that removes that prosecutor’s capacity. Commonwealth of Nations to act and hand the matter over to a special prosecutor who is not responsible to this city, ”the statement said.

Claire G. Gastañaga, executive director of the Virginia ACLU, said Virginia is one of the few states in which an arrest warrant can be filed without the approval of a prosecutor.

She called for the charges to be dropped.

“These accusations are political and I think they are discriminatory,” Gastañaga said. “The police department makes decisions as to who should be charged in a circumstance in which the elected official (prosecutor) is bypassed.”

Lucas’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. His attorney, Don Scott, also did not immediately respond, but told NBC affiliate WAVY that the charges were a political coup.

“They are doing what they always do, which is to militarize the criminal justice system against black leaders, and that is what they are doing,” Scott said. “This time we are going to fight it vehemently, we are going to fight it vigorously.”