NORFOLK — Chesapeake City Council member Amanda Newins was acquitted Thursday of a felony charge accusing her of using fraudulent means to get her great uncle and aunt to give their house to her.
Jurors in Norfolk Circuit Court deliberated about an hour before finding Newins not guilty of financially exploiting a vulnerable adult.
Newins, a former prosecutor elected to council last year, burst into tears when the verdict was read. Several family members and friends sitting behind her in the courtroom began to clap before being told to stop.
“I just want to thank the Lord,” Newins said outside the courthouse. She also thanked her attorney, Kristin Paulding, and all who had supported her since the charge was filed earlier this year.
Although prosecutors alleged the crime was committed in Chesapeake, the trial was held in Norfolk because Newins requested a change of venue. A special prosecutor from Roanoke County and a retired Norfolk Circuit Court judge were asked to step in after all the judges and the prosecutor’s office in Chesapeake recused themselves.
Newins was accused of taking financial advantage of her great uncle, Bobby Davis, who died in April 2021 at the age of 82. Newins testified Wednesday, denying the allegations.
She told jurors she never knew her father and wasn’t close to her mother, and that Davis and his wife, Shirley, were like parents to her.
During the pandemic, the Davises relied heavily on Newins and her husband Brandon, who would go grocery shopping for them, bring them home-cooked meals, and take them to doctor appointments.
After months of shuttling back and forth between the Davises’ house in Virginia Beach and her house in Chesapeake, Amanda Newins invited the Davises to move in. Brandon Newins began making extensive renovations to the couple’s home after they moved out, which he said were desperately needed. Amanda and Brandon Newins also testified the Davises agreed to making the improvements and paid for most of the work.
Not long after the Davises moved in with her, Newins took them to an attorney’s office, where they granted her power of attorney over their financial accounts and changed their will so she would get their home when they died, rather than Newins’ mother and uncle.
A few months later, the Davises signed a deed of gift giving Newins their Kempsville Road home. The couple had owned the house, valued at about $300,000, for 48 years. They signed the document at Newins’ home, with no attorney or other witnesses present. The signing happened just days after police were called to Newins home because Bobby Davis was in the backyard yelling and confused.
Newins got the deed notarized by a paralegal at the law firm where she worked without having the Davises present, which was required by law. Newins, who served as a notary public in high school, testified she didn’t know the notary was legally required to witness the signatures.
Shirley Davis told jurors her husband’s dementia had gotten so bad he often didn’t know who she was and sometimes thought that she was the maid. She said he needed help with basic tasks and occasionally became combative.
Dr. Cathy Cao, a neurologist who treated Bobby Davis in the last few months of his life, testified she diagnosed him with Alzheimer’s disease and severe dementia. She said he couldn’t answer basic questions such as the date, month or year and didn’t know what city or state he was in.
Shirley Davis testified she and her husband agreed to deed the house to Newins because she convinced them they needed to transfer assets to qualify for financial aid for an at-home nurse or nursing home for Bobby Davis. She said they trusted Newins to do what was best.
In his closing arguments, Senior Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney William Braxton questioned why Newins chose to have the Davises sign the deed with no attorney or witnesses present when she’d previously taken him to a lawyer’s office to sign the wills and power of attorney.
Bobby Davis’ condition had grown worse and Newins didn’t want to risk having others see or question him in that state, Braxton argued.
“Actions speak louder than words,” he told jurors. “And these are the actions of someone who knew those actions would not have occurred in the light of day.”
Braxton also argued that Newins was “untruthful” when she testified about her great uncle’s condition and when said she said she didn’t know a notary public had to witness signatures before notarizing a document.
“She was a notary and she testified untruthfully,” the prosecutor said. “This wasn’t an innocent mistake. She’s a licensed, practicing attorney.”
But Paulding argued Braxton had failed to prove Bobby Davis was incapacitated at the moment he signed the deed, which she said the law required. Newins and her husband testified Bobby was having a good day that day, and Shirley Davis didn’t contradict their observations in her testimony, Paulding said.
“That 10 to 15-minute gap when they were sitting at the kitchen table on Feb. 21, 2021, is the only question you have to answer,” Paulding told jurors. “Did he have the capacity (at that time)? Did he understand the nature and circumstances of what he was doing in that very narrow window of time?”
Shirley Davis testified Newins forced her to move out after Bobby was hospitalized in March 2021, which was just a few weeks before he died. She went to live with Newins’ mother, where she stays now. Newins and her husband denied kicking her out and said Shirley left because she was upset when they suggested that she move to a care facility with her husband.
Shirley Davis filed an $850,000 lawsuit against Newins last year in which she demanded that they return her house and other property. That case is set for trial in December. Brad Brickhouse, an attorney who represents Shirley Davis in the civil case, said she still plans to go forward despite the not guilty verdict.
After the renovations on the Davises’ house were complete, Amanda and Brandon Newins rented it out. Brandon Newins testified they collect $2,250 a month in rental income and none of it goes to Shirley Davis. He also testified that he and his wife have repeatedly tried to return Shirley Davis’ property to her but she hasn’t responded.
Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com
