Floyd County voters say ‘nada’ to incumbents
An anti-incumbent mood swept three local officials out of office Saturday as voters expressed their dissatisfaction with status-quo in Floyd County’s GOP primary.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Gordon Hannett — whose first term as the county prosecutor was marked by controversy, fights with Circuit Judge Ray W. Grubbs and widespread dissatisfaction over plea bargains and lost cases — was soundly defeated by newcomer Eric Branscom, a former Montgomery County assistant commonwealth’s attorney.
Branscom outpolled Hannett more than 2-1, gathering 860 votes to the incumbents 316. He is expected to face a tough general election campaign against local attorney Stephanie Murray Shortt.
Primary voters also ousted longtime Little River District Supervisor Kerry Whitlock, replacing him 174-130 on the GOP ballot with Virgel Allen. Burk’s Fork Supervisor Diane Belcher lost out to James "Jolly" Webb, 203-131.
Mary Turman won the right to be the GOP candidate to replacing retiring treasurer Doronda Thomas, beating Tony Gallimore 826-345.
The vote was a sharp rebuke for Hannett, who went into the election with a lot of questions surrounding his record as prosecutor, and also for popular county sheriff Shannon Zeman, the only county official to openly endorse the controversial Commonwealth’s Attorney for re-election.
Hannett recently lost two high-profile jury trials in less than a week, failing to win conviction of a Floyd man accused of 140 counts of sexually-molesting an underage girl or conviction in a case involving the volatile gated community of Park Ridge.
The embattled prosecutor also came under fire from rank and file law enforcement officials as well as county residents for a string of plea bargains that let defendants charged with drug crimes and other felonies off with little or no jail time.
But Hannett’s biggest problem came in 2005 and 2006 when he was called to active duty with his Army Reserve unit and he first tried to get out of serving and when that failed took Judge Grubbs to court because he did not like the Judge’s appointment for the interim prosecutor. The case went all the way to the State Supreme Court, which ruled against Hannett.
The interim attorney, Stephanie Murray-Shortt, compiled an impressive record of victories, including a jury trial conviction that sent a Copper Hill man to prison for life for assaulting his wife, and she won widespread approval from both law enforcement officials and defense attorneys.
Although Shortt has not yet announced her bid for office, she is expected to run in the General Election as an independent.
The losses by two incumbent supervisors was also not a surprise. The Board has come under fire over the county’s mangled finances, two sharp tax increases in three years and other problems in county government.
Voters decided it was time for a change. On Saturday, they made several.
What you surely must know is that Mr. Hannett has very little choice on jail time for some of these crimes. Virginia has sentencing guidelines that were put in place because rural districts were handing out strict punishments for crimes that were not considered as serious in urban areas. The judge decides what the jail time or probation will be and not Mr. Hannett if there is a guilty verdict. In fact, the judge might have given someone probation when the guidelines would call for a light jail term. A jury could fine someone innocent or on the other hand the criminal might fear that a judge would not follow the guidelines and expose themselves to a larger jail term. Therefore, they would take the plea from Mr. Hannett and he secures the conviction and the convict is playing it safe even though he might actually receive MORE time than if he went to trial. A jury can be VERY unpredictable and alot of times they really do not know the laws or the punishments for breaking those laws even on cases they are serving. The guidelines score someone on a point system based on several factors and they usually are followed by the judge unless it is a unique circumstance.
…MEB. I’m an attorney who practices in Virginia and the key word here is "guidelines." Virginia’s sentencing guidelines are just that — a set of guidelines that prosecutors and judges may follow. They are not hard and fast because you can change the severity of the charge to help control the sentence. Judges and prosecutors have leeway. Blaming the guidelines is a copout for being lazy. A colleague of mind has occasion to argue cases in Floyd County and he tells me Mr. Hannett has a reputation for being an easy mark for plea negotiations, someone who will deal rather than pursue a case. I understand he also has never won a jury case which tells me he would rather take the easy way out. Such prosecutors are a defense litigator’s dream. I’m sure some defense attorneys in the Floyd area will miss Mr. Hannett because whoever follows him will make their life much more difficult.
I said they are usually followed which is the case about 75% of the time…they are not set in stone andI said he has little choice for some of the crimes…not all of them.
I voted in the GOP primary last Saturday even though I’m not a Republican. I wanted to make sure we got rid of the three incumbents who so richly deserved defeat.
Diane Belcher and Kerry Whitlock deserved to lose because they are part of a government that has driven this county to near bankruptcy while raising taxes and placing the hardship for their mismanagement on the backs of those who own property.
Gordon Hannett’s record as Commonwealth’s Attorney is lackluster at best. He is obviously an incompetent trial lawyer, having never won a jury trial, and his questionable personal life are just two reasons to send him packing.
I hope Stephanie Shortt runs for the prosecutor’s job. I will be working for her if she does.
Doug, thank you for using your considerable skills as a journalist to shine a much needed light on the inner workings of our county government. You deserve much of the credit for making citizens aware of the misdeeds of these elected officials who forgot they worked for the people.
We’re all Republicans now!
Let’s be aware that taxes will rise with growth pressure, the Supervisors hopefully we will feel this pressure and shift the burden of taxes from the general population and local business, to the developers that are benefiting from dividing tax parcels into “retail” tracts. The choices are obvious, by the Dylon Rule a County is only able to use certain tools, these are commensurate with the level of organization it is willing to take on. The most powerful financial tools are only available when a County enacts a Comprehensive Plan (Zoning).