In
the section of Justice Powell’s ruling entitled “Facts and Proceedings,” the
second paragraph, first and second sentences read:
“During
the investigation, police came to believe that they were investigating a
domestic homicide because there were no signs of forced entry or robbery. They
believed that a “targeted shooting” had occurred…”
1.
The fact is that the police did not do their duty. This was not a love triangle
or “domestic homicide.” One simple question about the relationship between the
two victims to any student whose room was near the crime scene would have
debunked the love triangle or “domestic homicide” theory.
2. The fact is that there were bloody
footprints leading away from the crime scene, and a bloody thumbprint on a door
leading to the stairway, in a building in the middle of the campus.
3. The fact is there was no evidence that the
killer had left the campus.
4. The fact is that Virginia Tech set its own
precedent for warning a few months earlier when a killer, William Morva, was on
the loose in Blacksburg. There was no evidence he was on the campus and yet the
school locked down and warned the staff, faculty, and students.
5. The fact is that portions of the school took
the initiative and complied with Virginia Tech’s rules and locked down and
warned. Those parts of Virginia Tech
were complying with the school’s own rules and the Clery Act; President Steger
and Police Chief Wendell Flinchum were not.
6. The fact is that the school had warned the
campus before on numerous occasions for such things as mold and the flu, why
not for murder?
7. The fact is that Judge Powell and the
Supreme Court accepted the explanation that the West Ambler Johnston Hall
murders was an “… isolated incident and posed no danger to others …” without asking what made the police think
that someone who has murdered one student and wounded another is not a threat
to others?
8. The fact is that there is evidence that
Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum may not have been telling the truth
on the witness stand (during the Pryde and Peterson trial) about discussions
which occurred on whether or not to warn and lock down the campus following the
double homicide at West Ambler Johnston Hall.
9. The fact is that Judge Powell was wrong when she said on page two of her
opinion that “…the Blacksburg Police Department led the investigation.” The
7:51 a.m. entry in the Governor’s Review Panel Report states, “Chief Flinchum
contacts the Blacksburg Police Department (BPD) and requests a BPD evidence
technician and BPD detective to assist with the investigation.” The report
repeatedly has Chief Flinchum calling the shots and asking the BPD for officers
and assistance.
The
error raised in point #9 above is so disturbing that I decided to get to the
bottom of it and wrote Blacksburg Chief of Police Kim Crannis asking the
following:
“A
question has arisen that you could help answer: The Governor’s Review Panel
Report states that Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum was in charge of
the investigation after the double homicide at West Ambler Johnston Hall.
“The
decision written and made public by Virginia Supreme Court Justice Cleo E. Powell flatly states that you were
in charge.
“Could
you help me clarify the command? Did you assume control of the investigation
from Chief Flinchum? If so, when? Did the change of incident command follow
FEMA guidelines?”
Within
days I received a letter from Chief Crannis in which she said the following:
“On
that date, the Blacksburg Police Department responded to the request for assistance
from the Virginia Tech Police Department, pursuant to a Mutual Aid Agreement
between the Town and Virginia Tech. That agreement provided that ‘all law
enforecement personnel responding to an emergency request as described int his
agreement will report to an(d) take direction from the Chief of Police of the
requestion agency.’”
In
order to double check that Justice Powell was wrong, I then filed a Freedom of
Information request with Steve Capaldo, Associate University Legal Counsel,
Virginia Tech, asking for a copy of the agreement between the school and the
town of Blacksburg. Here is what that agreement says in paragraph two on page
two:
“2. All law enforcement personnel responding to
an emergency request as described in this agreement will report to and take
direction from the Chief of {Police of the requesting agency or his/her
designee. …”
Chief
Flinchum was in charge—Justice Powell was just plain wrong. This mistake is so
serious that it raises questions about the validity of the other assertions in
her decisions. Indeed, Justice Powell and the rest of the court appear to have
bent over backwards to view the evidence in a light most favorable the State
and Virginia Tech. Furthermore, the Virginia Supreme Court’s error on this
point is particularly troubling because it gives credence to speculation that
the Court’s decision was politically motivated. In other words, the Court was
determined to overturn the jury verdict in the Montgomery Circuit Court
regardless of the facts and evidence. On the witness stand Chief Flinchum
admitted that he had the authority to issue a warning but indicated he never
raised the subject with the school’s senior administrative group (called into
session to discuss the murders). Flinchum’s denial that a warning or lockdown
was discussed that morning stands at odds with the deposition taken from two
note takers at the meeting, Kim O’Rourke and Lisa Wilkes. Ms. O’Rourke’s notes are especially damning.
She wrote, “… police (read Chief Flinchum because he was the one communicating
with the administrative group) don’t believe a lockdown is necessary at this
time.”
The
Supreme Court also did not consider the fact that a lockdown would have saved
lives. Two students were allowed to leave West Ambler Johnston Hall and go
their French class in Norris hall where they were slaughtered. A lockdown,
then, would have saved a minimum of two lives; there is no disputing that fact.
Judge Powell ignored it or was just plain ignorant of that detail. (To be continued)
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