THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc. DATE: Tuesday, March 5, 1996 TAG: 9603050224 SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL TYPE: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1996 SOURCE: BY DAVID M. POOLE, STAFF WRITER DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
The most hallowed place in the House of Delegates chamber is reserved for Nathaniel Bacon, a 17th century planter who led an uprising against English rule.
Bacon's Rebellion was quelled temporarily when the king's governor had Bacon arrested as he traveled to Jamestown to take his seat in the House of Burgesses, the legislative body that predated the General Assembly.
Today, Bacon is honored by a shrine above the House speaker's podium. He also is an inspiration for a centuries-old state law that has spawned a modern-day controversy.
The law gives state lawmakers and their aides immunity from arrest - except for treason, felonies and breach of peace - while the General Assembly is in session.
Chesterfield County officials generated headlines last week by claiming they were powerless to stop lawmakers and their aides from driving as fast they pleased on county roads.
Their ruling came in a case involving an aide to Lt. Gov. Donald Beyer who was let off with a warning after being clocked at 73 mph in a 55 zone.
The aide did not claim immunity, but some lawmakers in the past have called upon their immunity when stopped for speeding and other traffic violations.
In 1991, Norfolk Del. William P. Robinson Jr. told a police officer who stopped him for having an illegal radar detector that he was ``exempt from just about everything'' because he was a lawmaker. Robinson later apologized for the remark, which the officer videotaped. Robinson paid the ticket.
Monday, General Assembly members said they wanted to clarify the law to erase any perception that they put themselves above the law.
``It has been interpreted that we can act with impunity for 60 days - and that's not true,'' said Robert F. McDonnell, R-Virginia Beach.
``I think the basis of the law is lost in the fog of history,'' said Del. William C. Mims, R-Leesburg.
Some lawmakers said they would try to clarify the immunity law when the General Assembly meets next year.
The statute has its roots in English history when the Stuart kings tried to overrun Parliament by imprisoning its members. In 1676, Bacon was imprisoned in Virginia.
``It was abuses of that kind that led to a parliamentary immunity,'' said A.E. Dick Howard, a University of Virginia law professor who helped rewrite Virginia's Constitution in 1969. Virginia, like most states, guarantees this immunity in its Constitution.
Howard said the intent is not to place General Assembly members above the law, but to make sure they can carry out their official duties without the distractions of court proceedings.
The law has never been tested on appeal. But Howard said he believed lawmakers who allegedly break the law while the General Assembly is in session could be tried later.
It is unclear if Suffolk Del. Robert E. Nelms will claim immunity when he appears in a Richmond court later this month on an indecent exposure charge.
Nelms declined a request for an interview Monday.
The Republican was arrested Feb. 15 in a city park. He later said he simply was urinating while walking on a trail along the James River. He said he broke no laws.
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