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Four indicted in juvenile facility brawl
Four inmates indicted in brawl at Culpeper Juvenile Correctional Center two weeks agoDate published: 11/3/2009 BY DONNIE JOHNSTON Four Culpeper Juvenile Correctional Center inmates were indicted yesterday on 11 counts in what officials are calling a gang-related jailhouse brawl two weeks ago. In what he termed a "very unusual" step, Culpeper County Commonwealth's Attorney Gary Close reconvened a grand jury that had met only two weeks ago to consider the case. "I didn't want to wait two months to indict, and I didn't want this to go through district court," Close said yesterday. During yesterday's court session, grand jurors were shown video footage of a mêlee that occurred Oct. 18 at the juvenile center near Mitchells in southern Culpeper County. "Basically, what happened was that four individuals took over a pod for about five hours," Close explained. As for motive, the prosecutor likened the incident to "a dog marking its territory." "They were certainly flashing gang signs," Close added. During the incident, furniture was broken and used as weapons to break glass and other property in the pod. One guard suffered a broken finger and another was kicked in the face during the takeover, Close said. Indicted yesterday were 20-year-old Wilbert Tirrell Smith, 20 and three 18-year-olds: Terrence Edger Henderson, Kevon Ashkiki Johnson and Rajit Anteon Nash. Each is charged with four counts of malicious wounding by a mob, two counts of felony destruction of property, one count of wounding in the commission of a felony, one count of misdemeanor curse and abuse, one count of wearing a mask in public and two counts of gang participation. Close said that his office did not get word of the incident until Oct. 20, the day after this term's grand jury met. He said he did not want to spend taxpayer time and money taking the four suspects through the district court route. "I wanted to get this to trial as soon as possible, so that everyone knows that we will not tolerate gangs taking over our jails," Close said. Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney David Barredo, who specializes in gang-related incidents, will prosecute the cases. The Culpeper Juvenile Correction Center is a special wing of the Coffee- Donnie Johnston:
Date published: 11/3/2009
I applaude Commonwealth Attorney Close for attempting
(posted by
tc_culpeper
, Nov. 3, 2009 1:58 pm)
to save the taxpayers money with this case. These stupid gangs are way out of control all over the country and need to be dealt with in a most severe manner...no kid gloves when it comes to sentencing.
20 and 18?
(posted by
PensiveObserver
, Nov. 3, 2009 6:35 am)
When a "juvenile" turns 18, they should be transferred to an adult facility. These people were in a population with true juveniles who didn't need to be exposed to this pecking order. In fact, why do we just do away with the "Juvenile" Justice System and create juvenile jails and prisons mirroring the adult system? End of problem.
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