It was a Friday morning in Chesapeake traffic court, and the room was full of people who’d been cited for speeding, ignoring traffic signals, having an expired license and driving while intoxicated.
District Judge Erin Evans-Bedois had an announcement at the start of the June 28 session, according to two attorneys who were there.
The judge told the group that the officer involved in all but two of the dozens of cases on the docket had informed the court she wouldn’t be there, the lawyers said. Instead, Officer Shanon Velez said she would be at the campaign rally for former president Donald Trump being held about 6 miles away at the Historic Greenbrier Farms.
As a result, Evans-Bedois dismissed all charges against 11 people, a review of court records conducted by The Virginian-Pilot shows. Most involved lesser offenses such as speeding, but some were for charges that carried a potential jail sentence, such as driving with a suspended license.
The judge postponed the cases of another 13 people — many of whom faced more serious misdemeanor charges such as driving while intoxicated and drug possession — forcing them to have return at a later date. Fifteen other people who’d been cited for traffic offenses by Velez, and given the same court date, had paid their fines in advance.
“I was floored,” said attorney Tom Sheppard, who was among the lawyers in court that day representing one of the people charged. “My client was very happy.”
Sheppard’s client, a Virginia Beach man who’d been accused of driving with a suspended license, speeding, and not wearing a seatbelt, was among those who had all his charges dismissed, Sheppard said. The maximum penalty for the suspended license count is a year in jail.
As for the judge, “she seemed pretty annoyed,” the lawyer said, and hesitated before dismissing some of the cases.
“I think she decided she was not going to punish the defendants that were there as they were supposed to be,” he said.
Attorney John Greenside, also in court that day representing a client, said it wasn’t clear to him whether the officer was attending the rally as a participant or working it.
When The Virginian-Pilot contacted Chesapeake police earlier this month for more information, a spokesman said the department wasn’t aware of what had happened until it was contacted by the newspaper. Spokesman Leo Kosinski said later that the officer was on duty at the rally but had not followed the proper procedure to avoid problems with the court cases, and an investigation was started as a result.
In the meantime, Velez, a 17-year veteran of the department who works as a traffic enforcement officer in the special operations section, remains on regular duty, he said.
Kosinski said Velez wouldn’t be commenting on the case.
As for those who had their cases continued due to the officer’s absence, their next court date is Aug. 9.
Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com
Correction: Due to a reporting error, an earlier version of this story was unclear about the officer’s status at the rally. She was on duty for the event, Chesapeake police have said.
