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Judge Rejects Cops' Bid To Usurp Prosecutor's Power In Confederate Monument Cases

Portsmouth police appeared to be trying to stop Commonwealth's Attorney Stephanie Morales from handling felony cases they brought against local politicians and civil rights leaders.
Portsmouth police appeared to be trying to stop Commonwealth's Attorney Stephanie Morales from handling felony cases they brought against local politicians and civil rights leaders.

A Virginia state judge rejected an attempt by the Portsmouth Police Department to have the city’s elected prosecutor removed from felony cases that police have brought against state Sen. Louise Lucas (D), local NAACP leaders, and a number of the city’s public defenders in connection with what police allege was a criminal conspiracy to destroy the city’s Confederate monument.

The decision by Judge Claire Cardwell would allow Commonwealth’s Attorney Stephanie Morales to handle the cases, as she was generally elected to do. The Portsmouth police, in what seemed like an effort to conflict her out of the cases, tried to subpoena Morales even though she wasn’t on the scene of the destruction back in June.

“The judge’s ruling was that there was no basis for a request for the subpoena, and therefore she said the subpoena couldn’t issue,” Edward Ungvarsky, an attorney representing Morales, told HuffPost. “I think the judge made her decision based upon the facts and the relevant law.”

It is unclear precisely how Morales will handle the cases now that she’s poised to take over the prosecutions, but she has aligned herself with the progressive prosecutors’ movement and successfully prosecuted a former Portsmouth police officer for killing an unarmed Black teenager.

“The upshot of today is that Ms. Morales is the prosecutor in all of the cases and she will address the cases in the normal fashion,” Ungvarsky said. The next step, he said, would be for the police department to provide Morales with police reports and other investigative files, which may then be shown to the defendants where legally required.

The unusual and questionable felony charges against Lucas and other prominent figures have thrown the Portsmouth government into a state of chaos. Portsmouth Police Chief Angela Greene ― who has now aligned herself with Lucas’ political opponents ― was suspended by the city’s now-former city manager. The majority-white city...

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