THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 17, 1995 TAG: 9511170197
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LAURA LAFAY AND MARGARET EDDS, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long : 175 lines
Virginia Parole Board Chairman John B. Metzger III resigned Thursday, one day after the disclosure of an Allen administration investigation into charges that he misused the authority of his office.
The probe, conducted by state auditor Joseph Freiburger, looked at allegations that Metzger illegally backdated parole revocation warrants, denied parole without consulting other board members and made sexually and racially offensive remarks to fellow board members. It was completed Wednesday.
Metzger sent a letter of resignation to Gov. George F. Allen on Thursday.
``It is apparent that I can no longer effectively serve you and the commonwealth as chairman of the Virginia Parole Board,'' he wrote.
Allen appointed Bruce Morris, director of the Department of Criminal Justice Services, to replace Metzger temporarily.
Although Metzger may have backdated parole revocation warrants, Secretary of Public Safety Jerry Kilgore said Thursday, the report did not document any specific cases and concluded that no criminal misconduct occurred.
``The paperwork sometimes lags behind the actual order to revoke, so you date it back,'' Kilgore said.
Forging records and ``fraudulent false entry'' on records by a state official are both crimes under Virginia law.
``While there may have been clerical errors and processing delays, there was no evidence indicating any deliberate falsification of warrants or warrant dates,'' Kilgore said in a press release.
However, the release said, ``Mr. Metzger had made some inappropriate comments.''
Kilgore ordered the investigation last month after complaints from Metzger's fellow parole board members and others. He said Thursday that he would show the report to State Police Superintendent M. Wayne Huggins. But he has steadfastly refused to make it public.
``Chairman Metzger has resigned and we can move forward now,'' Kilgore said in an interview. ``It would serve no further useful purpose to release the internal audit.''
But other officials - including the speaker of the House of Delegates, Thomas W. Moss Jr.; Virginia ACLU Director Kent Willis; and lawyers representing inmates on parole issues - strongly disagreed.
Moss called for an ``independent'' state police investigation into Metzger's activities and said the General Assembly ``will be forced to step in'' if the Allen administration fails to order one.
``It is not up to (Kilgore), as an in-house man who hired Metzger, to determine whether or not he committed crimes,'' Moss said Thursday.
Also on Thursday, the ACLU's Willis faxed a letter to Kilgore expressing concern that Metzger ``may have backdated parole revocation warrants or taken other, similar actions that caused individuals to be denied the due process protections of the Constitution.''
``I urge you to disclose . . . all portions of the investigation that may have had an impact on the parole status of any offender,'' wrote Willis.
``If the report indicates that no errors have been committed, then the disclosure will help restore some trust in the system. If errors have been committed, those who have been harmed by those errors, as well as the public, have a right to know what occurred.''
At least one lawyer, Virginia Beach-based defense attorney James Broccoletti, plans to petition the courts to order Allen to release the report on behalf of an imprisoned client.
Broccoletti's client, James Michael Wear, was re-arrested on Metzger's orders 32 hours after being paroled in March. At a hearing in Virginia Beach Circuit Court in April, Metzger blamed Wear's release on clerical and computer errors and said he ordered the re-arrest upon discovering that the family of Wear's victim had not been consulted about Wear's parole.
Circuit Judge Frederick B. Lowe noted that the parole board ``flat messed up,'' but ruled that Wear should remain in prison. The case is now before the Virginia Supreme Court.
In light of the Metzger investigation, Broccoletti said, he plans to petition that court to order Allen to release the auditor's findings.
``The issues discussed in the report are the same kinds of issues that came up in Wear's case,'' he said.
Broccoletti said he also plans to go back to Virginia Beach Circuit Court and ask Lowe to vacate his ruling on the Wear case because of possible ``fraud upon the court.''
Another lawyer, Brent Jackson of Richmond, said he believes Metzger may have violated parole board policy by denying parole to his client without consulting other board members.
When the client, Joe Martin, became eligible for parole in late September, Jackson scheduled a Nov. 1 appointment to plead Martin's case before the board. But on Oct. 25, Martin received a letter from Metzger informing him that his request for parole had been denied.
Jackson, with Martin's mother, a chaplain and other character witnesses in tow, went to the appointment anyway. Board member Linda Pitman was conducting hearings that day. Joseph E. Lewis, another board member, was sitting in. Jackson showed them the letter.
``They were surprised,'' Jackson recalled. ``I have dealt with them both for awhile and they are honest people. I really believe they were honestly surprised. And besides, they knew we had a board appointment. They would not prejudge us.''
The hearing went forward. After it was over, Jackson said, one of the witnesses expressed concern that the letter meant Martin's parole had already been denied.
``At that point, Ms. Pitman said, `Don't worry about that letter. We will be considering Joe's case independently of it.' Like the letter did not exist,'' he said. A decision in the case is still pending.
According to parole board policy, at least three board members must concur on any decision to grant or deny parole. Metzger, as chairman, was not supposed to vote except to break a tie.
Metzger did not respond to phone calls from The Virginian-Pilot Thursday. But he told The Associated Press that he resigned because of ``irreconcilable differences'' with other board members. He said he felt exonerated of any allegations that he violated inmates' parole rights, but admitted that he told ``sexual jokes'' to other board members
``The sexual harassment (charge) that was leveled against me never had anything to do with seeking sexual favors,'' he said. `It was off-color humor racist part, I don't have a clue. I don't tell racial jokes. I'm not a racist.''
The comments at issue ``were more along the lines of jokes or stories,'' Kilgore said Thursday. Some of them could have been offensive to women and minorities, he said.
According to three people familiar with the board's workings, one of the remarks that got Metzger in trouble was a quip that female board members would have to ``have sex with Jim Gilmore'' if they wanted to keep their jobs after the Allen administration ends in 1998. Attorney General Gilmore is the almost-certain GOP nominee for governor in 1997.
According to the sources, Metzger made the remark several months ago during a conversation about longevity on the board. A close associate of Metzger's who spoke with him Thursday said Metzger cited the comment as the basis of his resignation.
``That's why he resigned,'' said the associate. Metzger, he said, considered the comment a joke.
Told Thursday of Metzger's remark, Gilmore commented through a spokesman: ``If he made such a remark, it was an outrageous falsehood and he was right to resign.''
Metzger came to work on Thursday and plans to show up again today. His resignation does not take effect until Monday, a detail that outrages House Speaker Moss.
``I cannot imagine that the governor would let him stay in there that long and give him the opportunity to destroy anything that could get him in trouble,'' Moss said.
Responded Kilgore: ``We do not have a concern that John Metzger is going to be over there destroying evidence or doing illegal acts.'' MEMO: Staff writers David Poole and Robert Little contributed to this report.
ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Virginia Parole Board Chairman John B. Metzger III's resignation
takes effect on Monday.
Graphic
A ROUGH SIX MONTHS FOR VIRGINIA'S PRISON SYSTEM
MAY-JUNE: A loaded gun was discovered in a death-row inmate's
typewriter after he was executed. The Department of Corrections
conducted a brief investigation and concluded that the incident may
have been a hoax. After criticism of the investigation, Gov. George
F. Allen ordered a State Police probe. The investigation never
determined how the gun got into the prison.
AUGUST: Reports surfaced that a Southampton Correctional Center
inmate had conned prison employees into smuggling him alcohol,
Chinese takeout food and a cellular phone. Corrections Department
investigators, hoping to catch the employees, let the inmate open
bank accounts, buy two cars and run up a $1,500 phone bill. An
assistant warden was suspended, and a higher-ranking officer in the
agency took a voluntary demotion.
OCTOBER: A preliminary state report showed that the Allen
administration apparently used incorrect estimates of future inmate
populations to justify the construction of four prisons that may not
be needed.
NOVEMBER: The existence of a secret investigation into
allegations of improper actions by Parole Board Chairman John
Metzger was disclosed. The next day, Metzger resigned and state
officials refused to release the investigative report. House Speaker
Thomas W. Moss Jr. called for a State Police investigation into the
incident.
by CNB