Put your comments here about the charges against Ewell Hunt
Ex-Franklin County Sheriff Ewell Hunt
Read the story by Amy Matzke-Fawcett here.
Here’s the statement from Virginia State Police:
“The investigation stemmed from an August 2011 request by Special Prosecutor Michael R. Doucette of Lynchburg, to examine the actions of then Sheriff Hunt on or about May 30, 2011,” according to a news release from the Virginia State Police. “Specifically, whether Hunt’s actions or inaction, related to a series of crimes committed by Franklin County Sheriff’s Deputy Jonathan Agee, constitute a violation of law.”
Recall, Hunt told his dispatchers not to issue a be-on-the-lookout for Agee after he’d heard that Agee had threatened to kill his wife and took off in his county vehicle.
Instead, Hunt tried to call Agee himself and left a voicemail message for Salem Police to call him back.
By the time they did, Agee was in Roanoke, allegedly shooting and killing his ex-wife, Jennifer Agee, outside a convenience store in front of their young daughter. This
Did Hunt’s actions (or inactions) in case constitute a crime? Tell us what you think in the comments below.
Related: Hunt’s and the Franklin County Sheriff’s insurance companies pay $900,000 to Jennifer Agee’s estate.
May 30, 2012 - 6:13 PM
Absolutely. If this man had information that one of his own was going to kill his ex wife and decided not to disclose it to anyone else, he is just a guilty as Jonathan Agee. I don’t understand why he decided to try and handle the situation on his own. Maybe if he had issued a BOLO and notified the proper authorities,Jennifer might still be here with her family today.
Yes, I think his actions/inactions do constitute a crime. If he had let the dispatchers follow the normal protocol and notify all of the surrounding localities, Jennifer Agee would probably stil be alive. To save his office embarrassment, he didn’t want anyone to know what was going on. I don’t know how the man can live with himself.
Karma will get you.
Any idea what code the action is being cited under — i.e., violation of what specific law?
Leaving a message to return his call was inexcusable considering the situation. He deserves whatever consequences handed to him.
“Any idea what code the action is being cited under — i.e., violation of what specific law?”
Not at this time I don’t, Dave. The press release was vague.
Hunt is responsible for the death due to his own actions and inaction which very likely aided and abetted Agee. Hunt obviously was more concerned for the Sheriff’s Department reputation than the life of another. The charges are way too light.
Shame it’s only a misdemeanor.
There was an obvious lack of integrity in this case. Underlying motives were apparent. Too bad a life had to be lost, children had to lose a parent, and a state trooper was injured, emotionally and physically, to the point of leaving his position, to make this evident. Very sad. I have had some previous encounters with the sheriffs office under Mr. Hunt’s supervision and it was, according to the directions from the Commonwealths Attorneys office, unlawful, unfair and unjust. My dad was a state trooper and I am fully aware of their tasks and the dedication, and integrity that it requires to fulfill the job. Thank God we now have a Sheriff that is dedicated to upholding the Commonwealth of Virginia’s laws. This should never have happened. I, for one, am glad to see a man being questioned on his judgement on this matter. Blessings to all those that lost and were hurt.
WHO PAYS THE MONEY THAT WAS SETTLED FOR? IF THE TAXPAYERS HAVE TO PAY THEN YES THIS WAS A CRIMNAL ACT.
I’m simply amazed that it took this long
to have Hunt and his department investigated.
Total dysfunction (read family), Total joke..
and should be an embarrassment.
On of my writer friends used the term Fiefdom.
.,,,Right on target.
A slap on the wrist.
surely he is guilty of malfeasance….that it is only a misdemeanor shows that elected officials think they are above the rest of us as far as the law is concerned….since they are the ones who write the laws
The charges seem appropriate to me and more than a slap on the wrist. Incompetence is not a felony. I would imagine this will solidify the end to his career as a police officer.
Concealing knowledge of a crime in progress, aiding and abetting, negligence. disregard for human life.
It is about time they charged him but i believe he should be charged with more , he broke the law and should pay the price like any other criminal would.
I guess he could have done less…maybe texted Agee. ‘Hey dude where r u..do nt kll ur btch, pls”.
I can’t believe there’s not more than can be done. It’s a jaywalking ticket.
A gunman on the loose and the possibility of imminent harm to a citizen and Hunt leaves a voicemail? Throw the book at him and send him to jail for the abuse and misuse of his office.
I THINK HE SHOULD BE CHARGED!!HE MIGHT HAVE PREVENTED THE DEATH OF A HUMAN LIFE.
Yes it is very obvious that Hunt did not do his job and this needless killing could have been prevented. He should be charged! So glad we have a reliable, law abiding sheriff in office now.
I am so sorry Hunt pulled the trigger and killed that woman. He deserves all the negative coverage he’s been getting. Oh wait. That wasn’t him that did it. It was somebody else. Name escapes me.
Suzie, are you one of those good ol’ gals from Franklin Co who think he was a great sheriff? (spoken in my most redneck southern drawl…and I grew up in California, so it’s hard to summon)
Misdemeanor…insult the family some more after everything they’ve already gone through, especially those two little girls.
I am so sorry Hunt could not do his job properly and contributed to this families suffering and wondering if Jennifer could have been saved ‘if only’. He deserves all the negative coverage he’s been getting and he deserves this charge regardless of the outcome. His job was to do his job to the best of his ability and if that was his best then “dereliction of duty” is more than a fair charge.
What is insulting to the family is to keep deflecting more and more blame away from Jonathan Agee.
Hunt was a terrible sheriff and a shady person and needed to be removed from his position as Sheriff, but he didn’t kill this young lady. I just think that the crime was gonna happen no matter what decision Hunt could have made.
To Suzi & hokie24…Jonathan’s day in court will come…but an elected official failed to do his job and my niece could have been saved…what our family needs is to make sure that something like this DOES NOT happen again and people need to be held accountable for their actions
I’m no fan of Hunt’s, believe me. He’s been removed from his job, and I think we can all agree that anyone would be crazy to hire him in a police position, or a position of any sort of authority or management of any form ever again.
If the goal is to prevent Hunt from ever being in a situation where something like this could happen again because of him and his [lack of] decision making skills, then hasn’t that goal already been accomplished?
Dave Hicks,
Here’s some more info from Amy Matzke-Fawcett:
http://epwsgdp1.courts.state.va.us/gdcourts/criminalDetail.do?formAction=newSearch
The charge is a common law charge, which is different from most. As far as I can tell, “misconduct in office” falls under Va code 15.2-1623, which is listed here: http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+15.2-1623
One of the reasons this nation is as divided as we are is because time and time again people in authority make mistakes (or worse) and are not held accountable. The public has found him accountable and removed him from office. That is not the same as the law he swore to uphold holding him accountable. Not at all.
Just as the people mad over the “Fast and Furious” BATFE mission failure want that investigated and even though he was not involved, want to hold Attorney General Eric Holder responsible. Just as the people who lost so much in the economic crisis want those people who abused the system to be held responsible. Just as those who hated Bill Clinton wanted him impeached for lying about his sexual escapades wanted him impeached. Just as those who now know Bush/Cheney cherry picked intel to give us to make their case for war and torture still want them held responsible. It is the nature of the system to do more, require more and expect more than simply you lose the next election. It is not about the specific punishment or what anyone thinks is “enough”. Accountability is important.
Hunt will never make amends for his dereliction of duty. The best he can do is admit he mishandled this and tried to make it go away instead of using every resource he had at his disposal. The shame is he isn’t man enough to fess up.
It was difficult to read this article in the paper–along with the excellent timeline for the 80 minutes one year ago–without Waylon Jennings song starting up every few lines, “Justa good ol’ boys…” Get the good ol’ boys out of a profession like *law* enforcement, sheesh! He wasted valuable time to save a life, first tying the hands of his force of dispatchers (who he needed in active mode of dissemination of vital information), instead himself making hapless calls to different cellphones and friends of Agee while he *overlooked* *issuing* an *all* *points* *bulletin* *about* *an* *emminent* *threat* as communicated by credible sources–and further complicated the transmission of cruicial information through his atmosphere of intimidation and firings of personel who would cooperate with actual *law* *enforcement* *professionals*. Even after the woman lay slain, the dispatchers are still cowed into silence and aversion–and while State Troopers are in hot pursuit of a(n alledged) cold-blooded murderer!!! (Apparently Hunt’s teenage daughter has even taken advantage of this disruption in the chain of authority, and drugs formerly seized appear at Franklin County High School (as in the article)??? Back to the timeline, however, Hunt’s “gosh darn” response to the serious injuring of the State Trooper Bannock–and far too late to save the woman’s life while he went about things in his ‘aw, shucks’ way of handling things–was the icing on the cake, for Waylon Jennings voice rose over the awkward silence at the timeline’s end, once and for all.
That he felt empowered enough to run for office AGAIN after this egregious episode is indictment enough…he clearly feels no guilt.
hokie24, if someone commits a crime, the goal isn’t necessarily to just put them in a position where they can’t recommit the same crime. There’s a punishment/deterrent aspect too.
“hokie24, if someone commits a crime, the goal isn’t necessarily to just put them in a position where they can’t recommit the same crime. There’s a punishment/deterrent aspect too.”
I agree. But the actual crime was committed by Jonathan Agee, not Hunt. Hunt is guilty of being an idiot, which isn’t a crime (even though sometimes it probably should be). Even this new charge against Hunt is a pretty deep reach to try to find a law to hold against him. And to top it all off, it looks like it could possibly miss the statute of limitations for charging someone with a misdemeanor, depending on how “one year” is defined, since 2012 is a leap year. When pushing to be technical and follow the letter of the law, you’ve got to pay more attention to those types of details, and not leave your whole case hinging on a technicality like a leap year just so that you can announce your charge on the anniversary.
It’s starting to look like nobody from any side has a clue what’s going on or what to do next.
http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/309611
Re: Comment by Dan Casey — May 31, 2012 @ 2:56 pm
Yup.
Saw that when I read the paper this morning.
FWIIW, that is what I half suspected when I asked in the earlier question. “Misconduct” has a distinct Common law ring to it and my quick check of LIS had returned no Virginia criminal statute using “Misconduct” that applied. Other criminal statutes such as conspiracy, aiding and abetting, accessory before the fact, etc generally require actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea as necessary elements of the crime. I doubted that could apply.
Virginia prides itself on being a common-law/case-law Commonwealth.
Many folk from outside of Virginia have a real problem with the idea that every detail of our law is not codified. So, this should be interesting to watch from the point-of-view of a possible jury nullification, if it gets to a jury.
IMHO, this will be interesting to see how this plays out on a number of points.
FWIIW, that leap year question is a good one. “§ 19.2-8. Limitation of prosecutions” does not define a “year.” OTOH, a number of non-criminal code statutes do define one year as 365 days. Any attorneys-at-law here who know the case law on § 19.2-8????
Forgot to mention in my last the I had rejected “§ 15.2-1623. Judgment for officer or sureties against deputy, etc., when officer liable for misconduct of deputy” as the source of a “criminal” charge, as that is a “civil” action.
Because Hunt did not let more competent law enforcement officers (Roanoke City and County as well as state police) know what was happening in their jurisdiction a young mother is dead. No, he did not pull the trigger, but I firmly believe Agee could have been stopped before he got to the Sheetz store and was allowed to ruin the lives of so many people.
Sheriff Hunt did not commit a crime.
He did not pull the trigger.
The crime did not occur in his jurisdiction.
He had no way of knowing the intentions of Mr. Agee.
The person who called the Sheriff’s office could only
speculate about Mr. Agee’s intentions.
Police do not operate on speculation, they operate on
facts.
Based on what I have read, If Hunt had acted he probably
would have dispatched his Deputy/Daughter with her handgun
to quell the situation.
There is no telling how that would have worked out.
Did you actually type this? “Police do not operate on speculation, they operate on facts? Seriously? Wanna think about that one?
Yes, I did type that. I also had a career as a policeman, did you?
Nobody here was there to hear the conversation to know what was really said on the phone calls so it is so easy for us to point fingers at the common denominator here since the media has haunted him. What about the deputy Arrington whose son got caught with drugs at the high school that was supposed to have been evidence. Which Mr Hunt fixed the evidence problem promptly after taking office instead of the the good ol boy method that the Overton era had, but wait nobody wants to blame the overtons for anything including cutting 15 ppl loose during the Christmas season and then cutting dare out and most recent cutting pay of part time staff close to $8 a hour
#35 Rob Thommins posted, “Police do not operate on speculation, they operate on facts.”
Being married to a 25 year veteran police Lt, a sister to a retired Sgt [after a career ending injury from a drunk], the cousin, niece you name the family relationship of many cops or as I would prefer, law enforcement – and I worked with law enforcement for many years – let me make a minor correction to your above statement:
“… MOST operate on facts”.
As in all professions, there are some who are [ahem]
not “stellar” cops.
Police operate PRIMARILY on speculation. Sorry Rob, maybe that’s why you “had” a career as a policeman instead of a professional law enforcement career. back to the speculation…have you not heard the term “suspect”. Police in every surrounding jurisdiction would have reacted to the BOL and maybe, just maybe, the ex-wife would still be alive. As in all tragedies, every police officer that responded that day to the aftermath suffered. Police Officers from around the country suffered as they watched one of their own cross the line. Two complete families will suffer for the rest of their lives and can you imagine the daughter’s pain after seeing her mother gunned down – by who – dear ol’ dad. Former Sheriff Hunt may not have pulled the trigger but he sure loaded the gun!!
If you “had a career as a policeman”, do tell us how often an officer responding to a 9-1-1 call is EVER in possession of more than a scant rundown of the facts, much less all of them? Having had a family member “railroaded”, I am painfully aware of just how hard the police look for the facts that prove the case they want to make and how pitifully little effort is put into the actual and all other facts, no matter how pertinent. In fact, I received an in person audience with a CA who gave me chapter and verse on why the law works that way.
It might be true that detectives trying to solve a case might make more effort to get to all of the facts, but it is just not true that the officers on the scene do anything more than find what they need to back their opinion. You will never convince me different, I have seen it in action too many times.
Ewell Hunt did not kill Jennifer, that is true. There is no evidence that his lack of proper protocol was not a crime IMO.
Hunt’s mistake (and it was a big one IMO) was within his scope as a law enforcement officer. Whether in the ‘eyes of the law” that rises to the level of a crime needs to be decided. It has to matter to law enforcement or the whole process is an even bigger joke. Sure he lost the election, but that could have happened independent of this incident. He should called to account for his actions in the realm in which he served…the law. The charge is warranted regardless of any actual adjudicated punishment or finding of guilt.
For once maybe a law official will actually have to pay for his actions or lack of them.