The legal drama in Loudoun County, Virginia is not over. Commonwealth Attorney for the county, Buta Biberaj, had her office removed from a burglary case by a judge which legal observers say they’ve never seen happen in all their careers. It rarely happens that a judge removes and disqualifies a prosecutor’s office. It’s so rare that most in the legal field will go about their careers never seeing such an action. In this case, the judge alleged that Biberaj’s office deliberately misled the court to secure a more lenient plea deal for a repeat offender. They omitted his past criminal history. Loudoun County Circuit Court Judge James Plowman, who removed Biberaj’s office, said that there was “an overt misrepresentation by omission.”
Here’s the recap from Fox 5 DC:
A Loudoun Co judge has “removed and disqualified” the @LoudounOCA from criminal case in a move some attorneys & legal experts say they’ve never seen in their career.
— Lindsay Watts (@LindsayAWatts) June 12, 2022
I’m anchoring the shows on @fox5dc tonight, but have been working on this story all day https://t.co/3NoplEko4N pic.twitter.com/QjYhGddoge
According to the order, obtained by FOX 5’s Lindsay Watts, Plowman says the Commonwealth’s Attorney office sought a plea deal for a serial burglary suspect while downplaying and even omitting his prior criminal past and current charges in other jurisdictions.
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Kevin Enrique Valle was arrested on five warrants charging him with three misdemeanors for destruction of property and false identification, and two felonies for burglary.
Plowman writes that the plea agreement by Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Michele Burton states that the crimes occurred within hours of each other, not over the course of days or weeks. Plowman calls the assessment "entirely inaccurate," because the defendant is accused of "a possible 12 burglary crime spree spanning four counties over ten days."
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Plowman calls it "an overt misrepresentation by omission" by the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office.
He goes on to excoriate the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office for its assessment of strengths and weaknesses of the case writing: "The explanation highlights a lack of knowledge of the facts of the case or the ability to apply basic legal principals."
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According to Plowman's order, "the Commonwealth's Attorney's office agreed to a 6-month sentence, and the low end of the sentencing guidelines was 7 months." He goes on to write, "once the Fauquier County conviction was factored, the low end of the guidelines was 1 year and 7 months."
And now, the Virginia State Bar has been asked to investigate this fiasco (via Loudoun Times-Mirror):
Loudoun County Commonwealth’s Attorney Buta Biberaj, D, is facing an ethics complaint that was filed to the Virginia State Bar for her alleged misconduct in a series of burglary cases, according to a June 15 letter.
Biberaj, meanwhile, has called the complaints “meritless.”
Virginians for Safe Communities and Fight for Schools, the Times-Mirror confirmed, filed a complaint urging the bar to investigate alleged violations into a burglary case in which her office was disqualified and removed from by Loudoun Circuit Court Judge James Plowman.
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The groups allege that she violated two rules of professional conduct including “knowingly making a false statement or fact” to the court, and engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation.
Biberaj, in a prepared statement, said the groups filed a “frivolous” complaint.
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Biberaj is appealing the circuit court decision to the Supreme Court and is requesting the circuit court reconsider hearing the burglary case.
Plowman disqualified the office after concluding that the plea deal for Kevin E. Valle, 20, of Oxon Hill, Md., — connected to a series of burglaries — was a reflection of the attorney’s office inability to “properly prosecute this case with the detail and attention required of a criminal prosecutor and consistent with professional standards and obligations of a prosecutor,” according to a June 9 order.
Biberaj’s office has been accused of being soft on crime with a penchant for letting everyone out on bond. She doesn’t want to lock people up, including domestic abusers. It’s part of the overall pushback against the ‘woke’ folks in our justice system who are turning swaths of our country into a lawless Fallujah.
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