Testimony/cross-examination questioned in rape cases

An Albemarle County physician facing 11 charges related to sexually assaulting 10 female patients was in court February 19 for a motions hearing. Mark Hormuz Dean will be tried on multiple counts of rape, object sexual penetration, aggravated sexual battery, sexual battery, forcible sodomy, and abduction, all from his time as a doctor of osteopathic […]

The gunfire next door: Police response uneven in Fifeville neighborhood

In the early morning hours of February 10, Julie Bargmann woke up to the sound of gunshots. She laid still. “Unfortunately, I’ve gotten kind of used to it,” says the Fifeville resident who’s lived on Sixth Street Southwest for four years. Over the last two, there have been multiple shootings and other incidents that drew […]

For the love of the South

As he prepares to step down, the founder of the Southern Environmental Law Center looks back on three decades of defending the region’s natural treasures   Ambitious and naive. That’s how Rick Middleton describes himself 33 years ago, when he founded the Southern Environmental Law Center, a small nonprofit that would protect the air, the […]

Too much love: Apology for unwanted hug settles Kessler case

Phoebe Stevens is a pacifist. She says that’s why she wrapped her arms around Jason Kessler at his August 13, 2017, press conference as a crowd of angry protesters closed in on him. But after she knocked him down in the chaos, he accused her of assault and battery—a charge she was convicted of in […]

Conflict of interest on the Police Civilian Review Board? Prosecutor says ‘no’

When Police Civilian Review Board member Katrina Turner got involved in her son’s February 1 traffic stop, a local defense attorney asked the city’s commonwealth’s attorney to determine whether she had violated the state’s conflict of interest act. At last week’s review board meeting, attorney and regular attendee Denise Lunsford told the board she’d asked […]

Last man in August 12 parking garage beating pleads guilty

Tyler Watkins Davis entered an Alford plea February 8, and though it’s technically a guilty plea, it means the man from Middleburg, Florida, is not admitting guilt, but acknowledging that prosecutors have enough evidence to convict him of malicious wounding in the brutal parking garage assault of DeAndre Harris. Defense attorney Matthew Engle said his […]

The Kondo effect: Donations surge as people purge

Local Goodwill stores collected 13,800 donations in the month of January —an 18.5 percent increase from those gathered this time last year. And they’re attributing it to a Netflix special about a now world-famous Japanese decluttering expert named Marie Kondo. Perhaps you’ve heard of her. Before starring in “Tidying Up With Marie Kondo,” she made […]

New look: Seminole Square eyes apartments to replace empty retail

A new proposal could turn empty retail space at the Seminole Square shopping center into much-needed housing. Great Eastern Management Company went before the city’s Planning Commission last week for recommendations before submitting an official application for what construction and development manager David Mitchell says could be as many as 500 one-, two-, and three-bedroom […]

Trash truck driver fights DUI charge

First he was hit by a train. Now his attorney is attempting to prove that he was also hit with a bogus DUI charge. Dana Naylor, the driver of the garbage truck that was hit by an Amtrak train in Crozet last year, was in court January 22 to dispute evidence being used against him. […]