THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 28, 1996 TAG: 9608280011
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: 30 lines
I spent three days with family members and friends of Tim Jackson and Ferdinand Tolentino in a Virginia Beach courtroom where they were being tried for malfeasance in office as members of the Virginia Beach School Board. The trial never should have happened.
Commonwealth's Attorney Robert J. Humphreys stated that he had no choice but to proceed with prosecution because he was directed to do so by the findings of a grand jury, a grand jury he personally served as its counsel. Perhaps. However, one could easily deduce that a decision to bring these dedicated community leaders to trial was politically motivated.
Evidence presented by Humphreys and his assistant was so weak that defense attorneys Moody Stallings Jr. and James O. Broccoletti decided not to call any of a number of witnesses from the School Board or City Council or show videotapes of past School Board meetings. The jury needed only a very short period of time to render a ``not guilty'' verdict.
The trial was a mistake from the very beginning that required expending taxpayers' money unnecessarily. Jackson and Tolentino had the courage to refuse to be bullied into retiring from the School Board and they have been exonerated. We should now call on Humphreys to do what he can to squelch any possibility of a ``conflict of interest'' trial in the future.
MAURY BAILEY
Virginia Beach, Aug. 14, 1996 by CNB