Video presentations Circuit Judge David W. Hummel Jr. pulled a gun in court and lied about it

The West Virginia attorney general will strike in favor of a district judge who whipped his gun during the trial, dismissing the incident because the gun was only displayed for “a few seconds,” according to documents obtained by The Daily Beast.

Last month, The Daily Beast revealed how Circuit Judge David W. Hamill Jr. frightened some lawyers in the courtroom, sparking an ethics investigation into the state. Hamill told this reporter that this never happened, but The Daily Beast has since exclusively obtained a courtroom tape showing him pulling out a gun and briefly brandishing it.

But while the Judicial Inquiry Committee of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals conducts its own ethical investigation, the only district attorney has closed a potential criminal investigation.

In a strange twist, Wetzel County District Attorney Timothy E. Haute, it is up to him to reach out to a lawyer who was frightened that day – just to tell her he didn’t think any crime had been committed.

“What I saw on the video was Judge Hamill showing his firearm for a few seconds. It did not appear to me that he aimed his firearm at you or threatened you with the same during that time,” he wrote to Lauren Varnado on July 25.

In the messageHoot noted that he first heard about what happened “while on vacation in Wyoming” and noted that Varnado never reported the incident to his office. Hoot warned her that “in West Virginia, the criminal offense of ‘waving’ requires the display or use of a firearm in a manner that threatens to breach the peace.”

Then, in a follow-up letter two weeks later, the attorney general closed the door on the matter.

He wrote on August 9: “I have reviewed the video and audio clip in the courtroom…and have not found anything that constitutes a violation of the West Virginia Criminal Code.” Victim, I will close my file.”

Hoot did not respond to questions on Wednesday when he asked The Daily Beast why he thought the judge’s decision to pull his gun unprovoked was not a “threat.”

While the attorney general’s actions do not appear to merit criminal charges domestically, they are under scrutiny by legal ethics experts, who say his approach crossed a red line.

Rutgers University Law School Professor Ronald K. Chen, the attorney general for “attempting to administer the intervention of the judge.”

“Honestly, whether or not what Seife did fulfill the criminal definition of ‘waving’ seems off-topic… to make contact with a potential witness but who didn’t complain — and basically try to keep her away — doesn’t seem like much,” said Chen, who also chairs the Court’s Professional Ethics Committee. Upper New Jersey.

“It kind of chides the potential victim,” I don’t think a crime was committed here. You did not file a complaint. Am i right?’ This appears to be how the attorney general does his law enforcement job.”

However, in his letters, even Haught admitted that it would be inappropriate to pass judgment alone.

“Because Judge Hamill is the Circuit Court Judge of Wetzel County, and I am an officer in his court and appear before him routinely, I do not feel it appropriate for me to investigate or make prosecution decisions on this matter,” Hutt wrote in one of his articles.

Hote offered to refer the matter to a “special prosecutor”. Legal scholars told the Daily Beast that the attorney general would have every reason to distance himself from such a case — particularly in a small, sparsely populated city like New Martinsville.

Richard Zittrain, a professor at the University of California Hastings School of Law, expressed concern that Hoot’s letter “creates an atmosphere of bias on the part of the attorney general”.

said Zittrain, who recently wrote a book called Trial Lawyer: A Life Representing People Against Power.

“It is a good idea for prosecutors to talk to potential witnesses. But it is not a good idea for prosecutors to contact witnesses before the prosecutor knows what the witness is going to say and tell them that it is not a crime. This is completely inappropriate.

Varnado, who previously spoke to The Daily Beast about how shocked and threatened she was, declined to comment on her interaction with the attorney general’s office. In July, I got message of lawyers representing the judge who suggested he might sue her in person for speaking out about what happened.

Attorneys Robert B.

When The Daily Beast first spoke to Hummel in March, the judge immediately declared that no such thing had ever happened.

He said, “There is no incident… I categorically deny, that I had a gun that day in the courtroom.” “It was just me and the lawyers. I had no reason to own a firearm that day…I had never seen a gun in a courtroom. I don’t want them to know I had it. I don’t show my firearm at any time during the trial.”

“My job is not to protect anyone with firearms,” ​​he added. “That’s what bailiffs and deputy sheriffs do.”

But Hamel repeatedly called him, changed his story and blushedly revealed that he already had a gun – at one point. During a subsequent phone call, he stated that he had carried a loaded pistol under his robe during the trial the week before—but not the .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol of the 1911 in question. Instead, he said, he had a classic-looking, chambered long pistol of the same caliber that hails from his Wild West days.

“I was wearing a Colt Peacemaker,” he said. “The Peacemaker never came out of the holster during that trial.”

During a third phone call, the judge remembered that he showed the lawyers something – not a gun.

“I pulled out a little red first aid bag. But it was casual. I showed her a bag frustrated and said this is a blood clot. We have preparations for active shooting situations,” he said.

At the time, The Daily Beast asked if the judge was aware of any video that would dispute his claims. The judge said he did not know of such evidence.

Last week, The Daily Beast submitted a public records request to the Wetzel County Sheriff’s Office, which has kept a copy of the courtroom security footage. We received the video on Friday.

In the video, which incorrectly shows local time an hour before, the judge is seen starting the Saturday morning special session in court around 9 a.m. Ten minutes later, he is seen briefly waving him in the air while talking to Farnado, her New York legal partner David R. Dehoney, and local West Virginia attorney Jennifer Hicks.

According to correspondence reviewed by The Daily Beast, this video is now a guide in the investigation of ethics. Judicial Commission investigator David Hudson questioned others who were in the courtroom that day and has already received official statements from the judge and his staff, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the investigation.

The state judiciary did not provide details of the investigation, but its staff pointed to its website, indicating that judges who break the rules face a year’s suspension.

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