THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 18, 1995 TAG: 9511190006
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
John B. Metzger III has resigned as Virginia Parole Board chairman. The Allen administration will make a bad situation worse if it fails to make clear to the public what he did and didn't do.
Metzger has admitted telling off-color jokes. He denies telling racial jokes. But the most serious charges concern abuse of power. Metzger claims he resigned because of ``irreconcilable differences'' with board members.
But complaints by some of them led to an investigation by state auditor Joseph Freiburger into allegations that Metzger broke the law by backdating documents to revoke parole and by denying parole without consulting other board members.
The report has not been made public, but Secretary of Public Safety Jerry Kilgore says it doesn't support a charge of criminal misconduct. Kilgore admits that ``there may have been clerical errors and processing delays.'' And he's now authorized a second investigation by state police. Its results may not be made public either. Without doing so, it's impossible to know what actions were taken by whom, how many inmates were affected or whether Metzger's departure will solve the problem.
Some charges are known. At least one inmate was released, then abruptly reincarcerated. In another case, an inmate was apparently sent a letter denying parole before he could even appear before the board. Defense attorneys allege a pattern of abuse. Without full disclosure, there's no way to know if cases were affected adversely, or how many.
Clearly Metzger had to go. Bungling parole procedures and telling off-color jokes about the attorney general couldn't be overlooked. But questions remain. Are inmates in prison today because they were denied parole through clerical errors or something worse? If so, lawsuits are inevitable. Do the facts revealed in the investigation really support Kilgore's view that ``there was no evidence indicating deliberate fabrication''? No one knows.
The Allen administration is saying: Trust us on this. But it's an administration appointee who has brought the trustworthiness of the system into question. This case is particularly sensitive because the governor has made a political issue of too-lenient parole. It's hard not to wonder whether a zealous appointee might not have decided to fix the problem personally.
The public must have faith in the fairness of the criminal-justice system. A parole board that breaks its own rules, whether deliberately or due to errors, undermines that faith. The only way to restore it is to disclose what's already known and to reveal the results of further investigation. by CNB