Sunday, February 14, 2010
Airing dirty secrets
Elizabeth Strother
Recent columns
- Independent voice is silenced in merger
- TOP takes a hard knock
- Lagging on college access
- Alzheimer's drains minds and finances
From the RoundTable blog
State lawmakers who have stalled the reappointment of a circuit court judge want him first to explain why he unsealed the report of a special grand jury that investigated allegations against the Franklin County sheriff. They called the public airing "extremely rare."
Not so rare, though, as to keep from the public this month the lurid details of a two-year special grand jury investigation into the operations of the Henry County jail.
Nor so rare that Roanoke Valley residents can't recall the scathing report of a special grand jury investigation 10 years ago into criminal allegations against top Vinton police officials. I think of that as the report that saved Vinton from the dark side of small-town loyalties.
That special grand jury was convened on the heels of a state police criminal investigation that prompted the town's beloved police chief, Ricky Foutz, and his second-in-command, Lt. Bill Brown, to resign even before the investigative panel had finished its work.
When the former chief turned around and publicly accused town officials of railroading him, more than 100 angry Vintonites turned out at the next town council meeting, accusing the council and town staff of dirty dealing. The newspaper account describes a council visibly shaken as the crowd threw out questions for more than an hour and grew increasingly hostile. "Put all the cards on the table," someone shouted.
But officials could not. As Buck Heartwell, then the town attorney, repeated continually, the special prosecutor had instructed officials not to reveal details of the case. The special grand jury would submit a report. "I just have to ask you to be patient. I think the answers will be given in time."
And they were, by a halting and circuitous route.
Special grand juries can return indictments these days, but then it was up to the special prosecutor to decide whether the results of the three-month investigation warranted criminal charges over alleged irregularities in the handling of drug and gun evidence and of public funds.
He decided they did not. Special prosecutor Neil Vener said the department's procedures were "extremely" deficient, but he would file no charges, noting, "Not every wrong is a crime."
The headline on the story in February 2000 said, "Vinton police cleared."
Town officials were in a tight spot.
Then-Mayor Charlie Hill commented to a reporter, "All along, it's been a question of not knowing. It's still a question of knowing what's in the report."
By law, special grand jury reports are sealed. The proceedings are investigatory, not judicial, in nature. The information gathered is not designed to prove guilt or innocence, merely to determine if there is enough evidence to show probable cause to prosecute.
The law says the report can be made public, though, by the presiding judge.
In this case, that was now-retired Circuit Judge Diane Strickland, who found, "It appears that public interest requires disclosure." And so it did.
She didn't make access easy, though. The 24-page report was to be unsealed only for three hours on one day at the Roanoke County Courthouse -- no laptop computers or photocopying allowed.
Whatever reporters and other interested parties could scrawl down with pen on paper got out of the courthouse. Then the report was resealed.
The briefly opened window was enough to release a damning picture of the two police officials, based on the testimony of 53 people, including other Vinton police officers. The grand jury wrote, "In our opinion, town officials would have been derelict in their duties had they permitted either Foutz or Brown to remain at the VPD in any capacity."
The report offered evidence -- untested in court, mind you -- of mishandling of public funds, drugs and weapons. It blamed the problems on Brown, who ruled the department through "fear, intimidation and retribution," and characterized Foutz as an apathetic chief, either willfully ignorant or oblivious to them.
The case took some bizarre twists after Foutz and Brown filed federal lawsuits over their forced resignations, prompting Vinton officials to seek release of the grand jury report to prepare their defenses, and the former officers to press for its entire contents to be expunged.
U.S. District Court Judge James Turk tossed out the latter request and eventually both lawsuits, but not before ordering the report open to the public, noting the special grand jury recommended as much because the town's officials and residents "have a right to know the truth."
I'd say that applies to the public in general regarding their government officials. The standard for keeping the public trust is somewhat higher than simply not being charged with a crime.
Strother is on the editorial board of The Roanoke Times.
