THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 28, 1996 TAG: 9606280518
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KIA MORGAN ALLEN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 66 lines
A Circuit Court judge is considering whether to throw out charges against School Board member Tim Jackson because the city's commonwealth's attorney reportedly told Jackson to resign from the board or face more serious charges.
In a motions hearing Thursday, Jackson's attorney told Judge Glen Tyler that Commonwealth's Attorney Robert J. Humphreys had threatened his client with jail if he did not resign from the board.
In February, a special grand jury urged seven board members to resign or face malfeasance charges, stemming from a $12 million school district deficit in 1994-95.
Moody E. ``Sonny'' Stallings Jr., representing Jackson, said Humphreys made the statement about stiffer charges in a telephone conversation with Jackson.
The judge delayed a ruling on the matter Thursday. But he said it concerned him enough to take dismissal of Jackson's charges under ``advisement.''
``Frankly, I don't look at it as a threat,'' Tyler said. But ``I do look at it as a problem.''
What happens next will depend on how the judge rules on the motions within the next week. A trial had been expected to begin in August.
After the special grand jury report, five board members denied malfeasance but resigned, saying they wanted the district to move forward. Jackson and board member Ferdinand V. Tolentino vowed to stay on to clear their names. Each was charged with malfeasance in April after refusing to resign; in May, they also were charged with conflict of interest and failure to disclose a personal interest.
Humphreys told Jackson that unless he resigned on malfeasance charges he would be prosecuted on additional criminal charges, which include jail time, Stallings said Thursday.
Stallings also pointed out that the penalty for a malfeasance conviction is a fine up to $250, not removal from office.
Moreover, he said, Humphreys did not have the authority to force the resignations of board members based on malfeasance charges.
In an unsuccessful attempt to persuade the judge to take Humphreys off the case, Stallings accused the commonwealth's attorney of conspiring with board member Roger ``Buddy'' Riggs to cut Jackson off from district funds used to cover legal fees.
On the witness stand Thursday, Riggs denied any such conspiracy. But he said he thought Jackson would have stepped down had board funding not been available.
``I thought if the attorney fees went away, the case would go away,'' Riggs said.
Riggs also testified that he discovered a conflict-of-interest statute that Humphreys later used against Jackson. Riggs said he went to Humphreys to talk about possible conflict-of-interest charges.
Jackson and Tolentino were indicted on conflict-of-interest charges after they voted along with seven other board members in March to pay Jackson and Tolentino's attorneys' fees up to $25,000 out of district funds. They were also charged with failure to disclose a personal interest.
By School Board bylaw and state code, the board is allowed to pay legal fees for members if they are related to matters rising out of the members' official duties.
Both the malfeasance and failure to disclose charges carry monetary fines of $250 and $500, respectively, if proven in court. The conflict-of-interest charge, however, could result in up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Tim Jackson was reportedly told by a prosecutor to resign from the
school board or face more serious charges.
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOL BOARD by CNB