Should former Franklin sheriff Ewell Hunt even be on trial?
westernvirginiaregionaljail.org
Ewell Hunt will likely go down in Franklin County history as the most boneheaded lawman ever to reign over the hills of Ferrum and the hollows of Snow and Shooting creeks.
The ex-sheriff made some grievous errors in the 2011 case of one of his deputies who went out of control and (allegedly) shot and killed his ex-wife outside a convenience store in front of one of their daughters. And then Jonathan Agee allegedly shot a state trooper, too.
That Hunt tried to keep that rampage on the down-low before those shootings is accepted as a matter of fact. But is a crime? I don’t think so. So why is he on trial, under the theory that his misconduct in office is a misdemeanor violation of common (but not written) law? For more on this, read today’s story by my colleague Neil Harvey.
Hunt was the epitome of incompetence. He allowed his teenage daughter, the infamously nicknamed “Hurricane Ashley,” to play armed cop and issue orders and generally run roughshod over his department. The verdict was returned by Franklin County voters almost a year ago in an election in which Hunt, the incumbent, barely managed to pull 20 percent in a three-way contest.
That was the most important trial. This one seems like piling on. Let it go. Hunt’s and the sheriff’s department’s insurance company has already settled with the estate of Jennifer Agee. This trial simply seems like piling on.
As always, your thoughts are welcome in the comments.
September 25, 2012 - 11:40 AM
“He allowed his teenage daughter, the infamously nicknamed “Hurricane Ashley,” to play armed cop and issue orders and generally run roughshod over his department.”
And funnelled her a bunch of money. I don’t think being voted out of office qualifies as punishment. Neither does letting the insurance companies take the hit. He’s being charged over the Agee case, not his daughter’s behavior (not sure how they skated on that one), but Hunt’s track record just begs to be closely examined. If he were above reproach, he might get the benefit of the doubt…as it is, he’s far from beyond reproach.
Leave the guy alone. I feel for the children who do not have their Mother anymore, and their Dad will be in jail. But people love dirty laundry, and enough bad news for Franklin County. I have lived in Franklin County all my life. It is good, why not broadcast that?
Yes, he should be on trial. If he would have done what he was supposed to instead of leaving Salem a message, Jenny might not be dead now. Why didn’t he call Jenny and warn her? Yes, he has not suffered at all through this and still thinks that he didn’t do anything wrong. You got it right when you said, “most boneheaded lawman ever”. He knew something was up with Jonathan. He had to get all new uniforms from the steroid use. Who outgrows their uniforms that quickly? Wake up Ewell, the only comfort that I will get from YOUR part in Jenny’s murder is that YOU and Jonathan will burn in hell; that is after Jonathan goes to the big house and becomes someone’s ‘girlfriend’. I hope he and Ewell suffer just a portion of what Jenny’s family and friends do on a daily basis.
This investigation is way past due. A life could possibly have been saved if he had taken his job seriously. Hopefully he will be sentenced and will have a big fine for the many wrong doings he has been a part of.
Thank goodness he did lose the election and we now have a sheriff that will get things done. Hunt was not the leader that the county needed and his behind the scenes actions have caused a lot of trouble. Go courts –may justice be served.
Of course he should be on trial. He’s getting off easy, even if found guilty. I’m ashamed to say I once lived in Franklin County.
If it had been any other Franklin County couple, he would have issued the BOLO and done his job properly (we think), so yes, he needs to answer for trying to handle this in a different than by the book manner. Sheriffs are not kings.
Seems like some people want to convict him first and then try him.
Why not let justice run its course?
He’s on trial, BobH. What more do you want?
“Seems like some people want to convict him first and then try him.
Why not let justice run its course?”
Hunt is a Republican, of course. Just for once, I’d like to hear BobH voice such an opinion when it’s a Democrat on trial.
I would never treat him the way you all treat Obama Bob H. He has his day in court and he needs to answer for not doing his job by the procedures instituted in virtually every department. Even the dispatcher knew he broke protocol. If he was a Dem, you would get it and be bringing the rope.
It’s up to the courts to presume him innocent until proven guilty. I am under no such obligation. All of the stories I have read about his actions leading up to this horrible event and his previous lapses in judgement leave me with no doubt that he was incompetent and inexcusably negligent. I cannot convict him and send him to jail, but I do not need a court hearing to form an opinion of a man. I am a Republican, and I admit to feeling ashamed at my neighboring fellow GOP’ers in Franklin County for putting this man back on the ballot in the last election. He belongs in the back of a police cruiser, not the front.
Sandi,
Are you really elevating Hunt, former sherriff of Franklin County, to the same level as Obama, president of the United States? Wow, partisanship runs deep.
DC, when you do 15 different BLOGS on a single DEM that goes on trial or screws up the way Hunt did, let me know will you?
Democrats get the automatic “Get out of jail free” card here while republicans get convicted before they are even tried.
I don’t know if Hunt will get convicted or won’t. I do know that, either way, Ms Agee is gone and whatever happens to him won’t bring her back. He is no longer in office and is no longer a threat to screw up and make a similar mistake.
I agree with this blog post. I think dragging Hunt through court now is just piling on.
I don’t see a reason for Hunt to have a ‘day in court’ for a crime that Agee, not Hunt, committed.
Mary, Franklin Co is wonderful, but the former sheriff is an ass. His action directly led to Jenny’s death. If he had done what he was supposed to do, instead of trying to protect his deputy, she would most likely be alive today. He could have called Jenny, he could have made this a real emergency, but he didn’t do any of that. He said it was chaos, well that is his job to calm the chaos and do the lawful and right thing. I knew Jenny, one day she told me and others heard her say, that Jonathan would kill her, she suspected it even then. The sheriff’s little girl should not have been working there, a lot of misdeeds in that office for sure, but the county itself is quite beautiful and a great place to live.So you see it isn’t about the county at all, it’s about the ass that helped murder a friend of many and a mother to boot ! hunt needs jail.
hokie24, he’s not being tried for Agee’s crime. He’s being tried for not responding to the threat appropriately.
Hunt has built up a ton of bad karma for himself.
IDK, “piling on” is rather subjective. Not handling your business is not.
pamalalala seems to have had an epiphany.
Sandi,
You don’t think 16 different Blogs/Columns on Sheriff Ewell Hunt is piling on?
A better question would be does this article constitute journalism integrity? It seems not. Is anyone else tired of what is able to be qualified in the mainstream media today? This article is nothing more than a writer putting forth his own, obviously biased opinion and inviting others to join the already overdone witch hunt. Our intelligence is further insulted by the title of the article leading the reader to believe that maybe another side of this ultimate tragedy may be shared. After all there are two sides to consider in every accounting of a story. What a useless waste of space!
Too metro…not metro enough…
obviously the trial of a person who is negligent in his duties is not as important as the tragedy that befalls professional football…..perhaps he should have been hired as a replacement referee….he should be held accountable for his mistake
“hokie24, he’s not being tried for Agee’s crime. He’s being tried for not responding to the threat appropriately.
Hunt has built up a ton of bad karma for himself.”
Not arguing about the bad karma and the appropriatness of his decisions. I agree. But like the blog above says, he’s being tried for a ‘law’ that is not a written law, and I agree that this sounds like piling on.
He did his job poorly, he did his job wrong, and because of that, he lost his job. He didn’t pull the trigger. He shouldn’t be receiving more attention and negative publicity than the one that did pull the trigger.
I can’t believe you’re even asking this question. Years of malfeasance and dereliction of duty, and this last disgraceful behavior that lead to a highly foreseeable murder.
This reprobate is getting off easy.
Hunt has been found guilty of a misdemeanor charge and slapped on the wrist—-30 days suspended and a $600 fine. Everyone is entitled to legal representation but it is interesting that Hunt’s lawyer is none other than Bill Stanley. Wonder nwhose rface he’s sticking his glock in this week?
When Agee finally goes on trial, I have no doubt he’s going to get his share of internet abuse.
I can’t speak to the law that isn’t a law…it does seem strange, but why would some Lynchburg (I think) prosecutor have an ax to grind with him if it’s so far fetched? I wonder how often are common law cases are tried in VA?
Hunt was found guilty – his attorney Bill Stanley will appeal to Circuit Court…
Hunt very clearly deserved to be tried and convicted. Party affiliation has no role to play here. The man allowed personal motivations to prevent him from executing the duties of his office and he should be held civilly and criminally liable for his actions, or lack there of.
I find it somewhat poetic justice that
Hunt was found guilty by the terms of “common law”
It goes back to the Middle Ages..somewhat like
some of the residual societal norms in Right leaning
parts of the state.
If by some quirk this 500 dollar fine and a misdeanor on
his record kept him from practicing his “profession” in the future..
not only do I think that would show some sweet savory karma
but may make for a nice episode of the new series “Common Law”
So long chubs.
Hunt has never admitted that he didn’t do the right steps that tragic day and sticks too i wouldn’t do anything differently. Now there is a Judge who said, No Mr Hunt you did not do everything that you could have to save a life that day. It is true that had Hunt done what he was suppose to do that day Jenny could still be gone, however by Hunt not doing what he was suppose to, gave her ABSOLUTLY no chance to survive and also gave the law enforcement agencies in the surrounding area no chance to save her. I am willing to bet my life had he got a call saying a person was going after his daughter with a gun and they said they are gonna kill her he most definately would have acted the way he was suppose to, Why didn’t Jenny get this same Treatment that his daughter would have received. Jonathan will get his justice in Jan. So for the people saying this is piling on, no this is a man being told finally by a court of law that he definately did not do what he was suppose to do. This is definately a small peice of Justice for Jenny.
#24 Maybe if he had whipped that Glock out in court he could have won.
Why all of you are still opining about it is beyond me. We finally got our day in court. He is guilty and still not fessing up to it. Pay your measly $500 fine, Hunt. Do your laughable 30 days at home and fade into sunset so we can mourn the loss of our girl. And the rest of you, move on and out of our lives.
Piled on? You jest, Dan. Hunt committed nepotism by having his daughter ride along (endangering her) while being paid “on the job.” More ominously, his complacent passivity about the Agee crisis endangered others and showed gross incompetence in his role as Sheriff. Reminds me of a “Georgia courthouse ring:” “We’ve allus done it thataway.”
Toss him into jail awhile to get the point across. What you probably haven’t seen on the Sheriff cruisers in Franklin are the words “nationally certified.”
Dan,
I am very surprised that you don’t feel that Hunt should face a trial for his inaction. It has nothing to do with him being a republican. It does, however, have everything to do with the fact that Hunt was in a position of authority, a position that made him responsible for other people. He had sworn to protect and serve. He has said that given the chance to do the day over that he wouldn’t change the way he did things. Do you or anyone else here want him to ever be in a position where he can “decide” to do as little as possible to protect your family member or friend? Well this conviction will keep him from ever holding public office again and I know I will sleep better knowing that when someone elses life is in danger Hunt will never again be the person “calling the shots”.
“Toss him into jail awhile to get the point across.”
What point? How to be a better Sheriff? Does anyone think that Hunt is in ANY danger of ever being a Sheriff again, anytime, anywhere?
pammala:
“Mary, Franklin Co is wonderful, but the former sheriff is an ass. His action directly led to Jenny’s death. If he had done what he was supposed to do, instead of trying to protect his deputy, she would most likely be alive today…….”
I’ve been away tending to a lot of work recently, but what did I miss?!?!?!? pammala is now using capital letters and punctuation?! At first, I thought it was a cut-and-paste, but then I saw another with respectable composition. What’s with this?
gdad:
” Maybe if he had whipped that Glock out in court he could have won.
Continued from accidental incomplete post…
gdad:
“Maybe if he had whipped that Glock out in court he could have won.”
Typical stupid anti-gun gdad post. I only say this because gdad is much smarter than this ridiculous comment makes him look.
MommaBear, is a misdemeanor conviction a bar to holding public office? I don’t think so, at least not in the same way a felony is. Hunt could still run for office again. But his chances are nil NOT because of Tuesday’s conviction, but because he destroyed his reputation via gross negligence. The last election proved that.
I’m not sure what this prosecution proved. Not every case of gross negligence should be the equivalent of a criminal act.
What has amazed me from the beginning of this tragedy is how a bumbler like Ewell Hunt could be elected Sheriff in the first place. At the very least he complicit in, if not directly responsible for, the death of Jen Agee. Piling it on, seriously? As long as he’s under the pile. As for him being a Republican,{did someone actually suggest that?} there’s enough stupidity to go around for both parties today. Unfortunately this particular slice of ‘stupid’ got a woman killed.
Lisa Hylton’s 3yo son ingested methadone and died because she waited 14 hours to take him to the ER. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Jennifer Agee’s position was no different from that child’s – her life depended on Ewell Hunt doing what he was supposed to do. 20 years for Ewell please.
#36 Come on, John W, I was just riffing on Bill Stanley, who during the election threatened to stick hos Glock in the face of anybody who tried to check on whether he was living in the house he was renting in “his” district. To me, Stanley’s was the unintelligent comment.
I’m not sure when not getting elected to public office became considered “punishment”. Every election someone loses. Does this somehow compensate for any malfeasance they might ever have committed? So what he’ll never be sheriff again. I won’t be sheriff there either. So what?
I’m cynical enough to know that prosecutors sometimes try a case to get their name in the papers.
Here, however we have a public official that was guilty of gross negligence, bordering on depraved indifference or reckless endangerment: let’s see, the Sheriff was notified that a steroid-crazed, angry person driving a high-performance vehicle, armed to the teeth was pursuing his ex-spouse with the intent of killing her. What could possibly go wrong?
Evidently, Mr. Hunt didn’t want to run the risk of hurting this guy’s feelings at the expense of risking public safety.
Law enforcement professionals tell us that the most dangerous cases are domestic violence. I have followed this case and have never heard a law-enforcement professional defend Mr. Hunt’s inaction. It is obvious that, regardless of the outcome, the situation called for a BOLO or APB to enable Roanoke law enforcement to make a more timely intervention.
Mr. Hunt shares culpability for the death of Jennifer Agee and the wounding of the deputy.
At the very least, Mr. Hunt should be tried and convicted of impersonating a police officer.
“Law enforcement professionals tell us that the most dangerous cases are domestic violence. I have followed this case and have never heard a law-enforcement professional defend Mr. Hunt’s inaction. It is obvious that, regardless of the outcome, the situation called for a BOLO or APB to enable Roanoke law enforcement to make a more timely intervention. … At the very least, Mr. Hunt should be tried and convicted of impersonating a police officer.”
Raymond Flory, good stuff. Wish I had thought of that last line!
Well said Mr. Flory, I maintain that the punishment is irrelevant to a great degree, he needs to be held accountable in the system he failed. Well done.