In brief

Trials and tribulations

During a February 15 hearing, Shawna Murphy was found competent to stand trial for the alleged murder of Charlottesville author and arts enthusiast Matthew Farrell.

Questions about Murphy’s competency were raised shortly after her arrest on October 25, 2022, when she called 911 to report shooting Farrell at his Albemarle County residence. At the scene, Murphy reportedly told officers she killed Farrell, who died from a single gunshot to the back of the head.
Farrell and Murphy were dating and had lived together for several years at the time of the incident, according to The Daily Progress.

A beloved member of Charlottesville’s creative community, Farrell was 53 at the time of his death. In a 2011 interview with C-VILLE, he described himself as “an arts person, a fop, and a dandy.”

Efforts to restore Murphy’s competency have been long running, with the alleged killer spending more than a year at Western State Hospital, where she received mental health treatment. While Murphy has been found competent to stand trial, her state of mind at the time of the murder has not yet been determined.

Murphy is charged with second degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. If convicted, she faces up to 40 years for murder, and three years for the firearms charge. Murphy next appears in court on May 6 for an adjudication hearing.

Suit settled

The University of Virginia has reached a settlement with former student Morgan Bettinger, who was expelled in abeyance following an alleged incident at a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest.

Bettinger sued UVA’s Board of Visitors, President Jim Ryan, and former Dean of Students Allen Groves in July 2023. She alleged the university failed to protect her against accusations that she threatened protest participants on July 17, 2020. In the suit, she argued that the allegations and her subsequent expulsion harmed her career and caused her trauma.

Fellow UVA alumna and local activist Zyahna Bryant called for Bettinger to face consequences for allegedly saying that protesters “would make good speed bumps.” Bettinger denies this, instead reporting she pulled over when faced with a garbage truck blocking her route home and joked that “it’s a good thing you’re here because otherwise these people would have been speed bumps.”

While the University Judiciary Committee found Bettinger guilty of “threatening the health or safety of students” and expelled her in abeyance, the UVA Office for Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights found the student not guilty. The expulsion remained on her record.

The terms of the settlement between UVA and Bettinger are unknown at press time.

Pumped up

After a storm damaged the Rivanna Pump Station in early January, the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority reports that a new bypass pumping and piping system, which routes wastewater around the old pump station, has been installed. This temporary solution replaces a different temporary pump system, increasing the gallons of wastewater conveyed per day from 10 million to 50 million. The RWSA is still investigating the cause of the initial failure. A full restoration is anticipated to take several months.

Map quest

A new virtual map of downtown Charlottes­ville is available through the Friends of Cville Downtown website. The map features information on dining, shopping, entertainment, parking, lodging, and more. Friends of Cville Downtown collaborated with the Charlottesville Office of Economic Development for the project. View the map at friendsofcville.org/downtown-charlottesville-map

Politically correct

The University of Virginia’s new Committee on Institutional Statements began meeting this month, with the goal of determining when or if the university should make formal statements about political or social events. The committee was formed in the wake of criticism from the student body over UVA President Jim Ryan’s initial public statement about the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel. The committee is comprised of nine faculty members, one student, an alum, and a member of the Board of Visitors.