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Judge drops charges against Morrissey

Commonwealth Attorney Theo Stamos will pursue further legal action

<p>Joe Morrissey said he still plans on running for the Virginia Senate.</p>

Joe Morrissey said he still plans on running for the Virginia Senate.

Commonwealth Judge Alfred Swersky dropped four felony charges Wednesday against former Del. Joe Morrissey, I-Henrico, contending he presented fake documents in a previous case. Arlington County Commonwealth’s Attorney Theo Stamos said he plans to pursue further legal action in appellate court.

Morrissey pled guilty last December to charges including distribution of child pornography and contribution to the delinquency of a minor. However, Spotsylvania Commonwealth’s Attorney William F. Neely said he referenced forged documents during the trial.

“It occurred on Dec. 21,” Neely said. “When Mr. Morrissey pled guilty, he surprised me with what turned out to be a forged court order for his plea.”

Neely said he decided to charge him with a second round of charges including perjury and forgery. Due to his position as a possible witness in the second set of charges, the Commonwealth appointed Stamos to prosecution and assigned a new judge.

Despite the seriousness of the allegations, Morrissey said he had no doubt they would be dropped.

“The dismissal of the charges is something I anticipated all along,” Morrissey said. “Those state charges were absolutely bogus. There is no merit to them whatsoever. The Commonwealth better bring its A-game because we are, and we are going to crush them.”

Morrissey said he still plans to run for Senate despite the recent legal cases and believes the recent drama will have no effect on his campaign or his voters’ decisions. Morrissey said that although he is directly out of the heat, it is still important to serve justice against the accuser’s father, Coleman Pride.

“In some ways it’s important for allegations to be aired for political officials,” Morrissey said. “I am suing the guy. I am going to put everything back front and center. I am going to show that he is an absolute liar.”

The four recent charges were dropped because Judge Swersky feared that the wording of the original plea agreement presented the possibility for a double jeopardy situation in which Morrissey was exempted from further charges against him stemming from the case.

“In the hearing that was conducted this week, Judge Swersky decided that the immunity agreement contained in the original plea agreement was broad enough to cover his misconduct,” Neely said.

Although the judge granted the Commonwealth permission to dismiss, Stamos said he had problems with the extension of the immunity clause in court and plans to attempt to appeal the decision.

“We didn’t believe that that paragraph insulated him from the new set of charges,” Stamos said. “That paragraph should only apply to a specific set of facts, but the judge ruled otherwise. We are looking at an avenue for appeal. We certainly would like to go to appellate court and get a different outcome.”

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