With jury trials suspended this month throughout most of the greater Lynchburg area because of the coronavirus pandemic, a backlog of those cases has been building â and those involved will be some of the last whose sentence is legally required to be jury-recommended.
Virginia legislators passed a law last year that will take away the requirement for sentencing by a jury after they convict someone starting July 1. Itâs something of a landmark: Virginia was the first state to enact jury sentencing in 1796, with some states following suit but several abandoning the process in the 1970s and â80s. Five other states give juries sentencing power today.
The spread of COVID-19 around jails in the Lynchburg area that started over one month ago now has infected more than 200 inmates and staffers, and one inmate died from the disease in the past week.
The Blue Ridge Regional Jail Authority, which runs facilities in Lynchburg and the counties of Amherst, Bedford, Campbell and Halifax, counted a total of 191 positive COVID-19 cases among inmates and 26 among staff as of Thursday, according to administrator Joshua Salmon. That works out to an infection rate of about 15% of the jailsâ collective population of 1,249 and about 6% of a workforce of about 400.
Joshua Salmon
The Bedford Adult Detention Center was the only facility that had no current cases among inmates, he said, and one staff member there currently is positive.
‘We’ve got to take action’: Lynchburg vigil calls for change after recent homicides
LPD chief: “We’ve got to come together to denounce these acts”
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LYNCHBURG, Va. – Dozens of Lynchburg residents fed up with the violence in the city came together in a plea for peace Sunday night.
A vigil on the corner of 12th and Kemper streets remembered three recent homicide victims in the Hill City. Most notably, it eulogized 28-year-old mother Samantha Robinson, who was shot and killed when a stray bullet hit her while driving last week.
“We just can’t be quiet. We’ve got to take action,” said James Camm of One Community One Voice, who organized the vigil. “There’s a child without a mother. There’s a family that’s grieving without understanding.”
Candlelight vigil remembers Samantha Robinson; suspects still sought
Community members gathered last night for a vigil for 28-year-old Samantha Robinson, who was killed Thursday afternoon in Lynchburg when a stray bullet hit the car she was driving on 12
th Street. Lynchburg Commonwealth’s Attorney Bethany Harrison:
Lynchburg Police Chief Ryan Zuidema:
Her mother describes Samantha as a “good, beautiful soul. Smiling, laughing all of the time and was the life of the party.”
The LPD is looking for three men to question in connection with her death:
Dia Montae Cedrik Taylor, 19, of Lynchburg, who also has an outstanding arrest warrant for a probation violation on firearms charges unrelated to this incident