Three months after his January 14 arrest, Western Albemarle High School student Patrick Dittmar Crider appeared in Albemarle County Circuit Court this morning, to face a charge of "threatening bodily injury by letter." According to a report from the Charlottesville Newsplex, Crider also faced a violin.
Chief Judge Cheryl Higgins reportedly asked Crider to play a violin as a means of confirming a potential conflict of interest. The Newsplex notes that Higgins "thought an immediate family member of hers might have direct ties to Crider." After a few minutes of string music, Higgins decided to reassign Crider’s case to a new judge; this morning’s hearing is rescheduled for next week.
