Incest Case of Dead Civil Rights Leader Not Abated; Judge Cites Victim Rights
When a criminal defendant dies while his conviction is being appealed, the federal courts dismiss the charges, as happened in the case of Enron executive Kenneth Lay.
But in a precedent-setting Virginia case, a different rule has been applied in the case of a well-known 1960s civil rights worker who recently was convicted of committing incest with a teenage daughter more than a decade earlier.
After 71-year-old James Bevel died last year of pancreatic cancer, his public defender sought an abatement of his conviction. But when the Virginia Court of Appeals then instructed Loudoun Circuit Court Judge Burke McCahill to “hold a hearing and to abate the prosecution ab initio, unless good cause is shown by the Commonwealth not to do so,” McCahill found that there was good cause to let Bevel’s conviction stand, reports the Washington Post.
His decision apparently was based in large part on testimony during the hearing by Bevel’s now-adult daughter, who said she felt vindicated by her father’s conviction and did not want it dismissed. Another daughter said she also was sexually abused by their father, and said the family had tried for years to resolve the issue without going to authorities.
A prosecutor arguing against the requested abatement said that dismissing the case against Bevel would give greater priority to the rights of the dead defendant than the rights of living victims, the Post reports, and the judge apparently took a similar view.
Noting that Bevel’s appeal might not have been successful, McCahill termed abatement a “judicial sleight of hand which, in my view, at best ignores reality and at worst revictimizes the victims by judicial declaration,” and said the jury’s decision should be “respected.”
Bevel’s public defender reportedly hasn’t decided whether to appeal McCahill’s abatement ruling.
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Civil Rights Leader Gets 15 Years for Incest, Expected to Die in Jail”
