Twelve current and former Inter-Fraternity Council members were able to breathe a collective sigh of relief this weekend after a Charlottesville General District Court judge threw out all charges against them from a March 6 incident at the Hardware Store Restaurant.
Judge Champion Bowles, a substitute judge who was in on Friday, heard two separate cases. The first case was against the first nine students arrested for the incident. The second case looked at three other students that were arrested at a later time.
All 12 students were brought up on charges of destruction of private property for throwing eight glasses worth $80 against a brick wall at the Hardware Store located at the Downtown Mall.
According to police and student reports, former IFC Treasurer Kirk Hurme paid the Hardware Store for the damaged property after the incident had occurred as the other students departed the restaurant.
In the first case involving nine of the students, Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Ron Huber dropped all charges, citing that there was not enough evidence to pursue the case.
However, Huber said that in the second case he was seeking a guilty verdict and fine against former IFC President Justin Saunders and former IFC members Taylor Beery and Wes Bieligk.
Warrants were served to all three individuals on Friday, and all three admitted their involvement in the incident to police
The three defendants' counsel did not dispute the evidence presented by Huber but asked Bowles to take the case under advisement for a period of time and not render a verdict.
According to Huber, in less than 10 minutes of deliberation, Bowles instead chose to completely dismiss the charges against all three defendants, calling the incident a harmless, youthful indiscretion and citing incidents from his own youth in his decision.
"I'm very disappointed," Huber said. "This decision sends the wrong message."
According to Huber, although the case would not set a precedent, it is counter-productive to the Commonwealth Attorney's Office's goal of treating everyone, including University students and Charlottesville residents alike, fairly.
IFC President Josh Johnson, who was one of the nine individuals charged in the first case, said he was very pleased with the result of the case.
"It's really good people now know the truth about what happened that night," Johnson said. "This was a misunderstanding. The people who were arrested didn't do anything wrong."
Johnson said he is glad that all of the defendants in the incident now can put the issue behind them and focus their efforts on IFC issues for the upcoming fall and spring semesters.
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