Jesse Matthew trial for 2005 attempted capital murder, abduction, and sexual assault. Case is related to Harrington and Graham case.

https://twitter.com/nadine_maeser

Nadine Maeser ‏@nadine_maeser  · 1h1 hour ago  
#JesseMatthew prosecutors: Victim crossed oceans to get here. Don't want Matthew to withdrawal his plea.

#HAPPENINGRIGHTNOW: #JesseMatthew is entering plea agreement. Clerk is reading charges @WDBJ7

#JesseMatthew responds "GUILTY" to first count of attempted capital murder. @WDBJ7

#JesseMatthew pleas "GUILTY" to abduction with intent to defile. @WDBJ7

#JesseMatthew pleads "GUILTY" to sexual penetration with an object. This is the last charge. @WDBJ7

#BREAKING: #JesseMatthew has accepted the Alford Plea deal. He just pleaded "GUILTY" to all three charges,... http://fb.me/u9WDvaLL

https://twitter.com/nadine_maeser

https://twitter.com/nadine_maeser

JUDGE DAVID SCHELL: The court finds that evidence in this case is "overwhelming." The defendant has "intelligently concluded" it is "in his best interest" to enter into the Alford Plea. "Because of this plea you are not entitled to a trial by jury." WDBJ7

Defense attorney Jim Camblos is guiding #JesseMatthew through his answers to Judge David Schell by talking to him.

Judge David Schell is reminding #JesseMatthew these charges came with 3 life sentences. @WDBJ7

#JesseMatthew says he is satisfied by his defense team. By accepting #AlfordPlea, Matthew waives his right to appeal.

#JesseMatthew says he understood all of Schell's questions. Matthew says he has no questions for the court.

The family of #JesseMatthew is sitting a few feet behind him right now. They are just looking forward.

Schell accepts Alford Plea from #JesseMatthew

https://twitter.com/nadine_maeser

https://twitter.com/nadine_maeser

Two of the offenses require #JesseMatthew to register as a sex offender. Matthew understands and still wants to enter Alford Plea

SCHELL: Based on Alford Plea and the evidence, the court finds you guilty of attempted cap. murder, abduction and sexual penetration

Defense requests additional time for pre-sentencing report. Judge wanted August, Butorac asks for later.

October 2, 2015 at 2 pm will be the sentencing. #JesseMatthew will be held without bond.

https://twitter.com/nadine_maeser

https://twitter.com/nadine_maeser

RG wants to address the court. CW is asking for brief hearing for next week so she could testify to the crimes

Defense understands they want to do it while RG is still here. Hearing set for 2pm next Thursday.

https://twitter.com/nadine_maeser

https://twitter.com/nadine_maeser

The jurors are being brought back into the #JesseMatthew trial @WDBJ7

Schell is telling jurors #JesseMatthew just entered Alford Plea and that he has found him guilty

Judge Schell tells jurors they can speak to the media, if they wish to. He is thanking them for their service

The jury is free to go. @WDBJ7 #JesseMatthew

https://twitter.com/nadine_maeser

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Court is adjourned. Forensic expert says she doesn't think she can comment

Jesse Matthews family is leaving the courthouse. They told me "no comment" when asked about the Alford Plea. WDBJ7

#JesseMatthew juror speaks with WDBJ7 about the trial and the plea. Hear his story tonight!! http://fb.me/4ok481ZbF

Nadine Maeser ‏@nadine_maeser  · 30m30 minutes ago   Fairfax, VA  
Still waiting outside the back of the courthouse for jurors. Sorry if I cant get to your tweets. Standby!



WUSA9 ‏@wusa9  · 34m34 minutes ago  
CA Morrough: She [victim] just wanted to express her gratitude. She's sort of overwhelmed at this point.

https://twitter.com/nadine_maeser

Jesse Matthew enters Alford plea in '05 Virginia sex assault

MATTHEW BARAKAT Jun 10th 2015 12:53PM

~snipped~
FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — Jesse Matthew has entered an Alford plea on charges that he attacked and molested a woman in Virginia in 2005, acknowledging that prosecutors have enough evidence to convict him.

Wednesday's plea means Matthews maintains his innocence. It is a form of a guilty plea, but without an explicit admission of guilt.

Matthew, 33, of Charlottesville, also is charged in a separate case with the abduction and killing last year of University of Virginia student Hannah Graham.

His plea came after the prosecution rested its case with DNA evidence linking him to the September 2005 case in Fairfax. Defense lawyers tried unsuccessfully to get the judge to strike the case.

Prosecutor Ray Morrogh said Matthew is entering the plea without any plea agreement with prosecutors.

Matthew faces up to life in prison when sentenced.

http://www.aol.com/article/2015/06/10/testimony-dna-from-sex-assault-linked-to-jesse-matthew/21194024/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl2%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D1574688726

Wow!  That was a fast (and to me, unexpected) resolution to this case.  

Thanks for all the updates, Mylife.

OK, I'm confused.  He pleaded Guilty to each individual charge, and yet the article says "without an explicit admission of guilt".

???  

Can anyone help me understand this?

Oh, wait; I think I found the answer:

"Matthew gave the form of a guilty plea to all three charges in the Fairfax case: attempted capital murder, abduction and sexual assault."

Source:  http://www.aol.com/article/2015/06/10/testimony-dna-from-sex-assault-linked-to-jesse-matthew/21194024/

I did a little research.

What is an Alford Plea?

From the Legal Information Institute:

Also known as a "best-interests plea," an Alford plea registers a formal claim neither of guilt nor innocence toward charges brought against a defendant in criminal court. Like a nolo contendere plea, an Alford plea arrests the full process of criminal trial because the defendant -- typically, only with the court's permission --  accepts all the ramifications of a guilty verdict (i.e. punishment) without first attesting to having committed the crime. The name, Alford plea, is taken from North Carolina v. Alford 400 U.S. 25.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/alford_plea

From Lawyers.com:

Guilty pleas are common. In fact, most criminal matters don’t go to trial, but rather end when the defendant (the person accused of a crime) pleads guilty to committing the crime, usually in exchange for some favorable treatment from the prosecution. This is the typical plea arrangement. While these types of guilty pleas are common, however, there’s a special type of guilty plea that’s often overlooked. It’s called an “Alford” plea.

What’s an “Alford” Plea?

An Alford plea is when a defendant enters a plea of guilty without making an admission of guilt. In other words, he pleads guilty but at the same time he maintains that he’s innocent. This is very different from the typical guilty plea where the defendant usually admits, in open court, that he’s guilty of the crime.

The term Alford plea comes from a 1970 US Supreme Court decision in which the defendant was charged with first-degree murder, which was punishable by death under the laws of the state where the murder was committed. However, under those state laws, if the defendant pled guilty, he’d be sentenced to life imprisonment. The defendant was offered a deal in which he agreed to plead guilty to second degree murder with a maximum prison sentence of 30 years. At the hearing on his plea, the defendant testified that he didn’t commit the murder and that he was pleading guilty simply to avoid the death penalty.

Ultimately, the Court ruled that a judge may accept a guilty plea from a defendant who doesn’t want to admit guilt but wants the benefit of an arranged plea bargain. The critical questions the judge must ask in these cases are:
•Is the defendant making an intelligent decision to plead guilty? That is, does he understand what the plea means, what rights he’s giving up (like the right to jury trial, etc.), and that he’ll be treated as being “guilty,” despite his professed innocence, and
•Is there sufficient evidence of the defendant’s guilt? The criminal justice system is designed to help make sure that persons aren’t punished unjustly; unless there’s proof that he committed a crime. So, in an Alford plea, the judge must be convinced that there’s enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime

In the Alford case the evidence was overwhelming that the defendant committed the murder, and his decision was “intelligent” because he was taking advantage of a way around the death penalty and life in prison.

http://definitions.uslegal.com/a/alford-plea/

And, try this link to the handy-dandy Wikipedia if you would like to know the origins of the Alford Plea.  It is kind of interesting.  

Origin[edit]

Main article: North Carolina v. Alford
North Carolina v. Alford, U.S. Supreme Court (1970)
The Alford guilty plea is named after the United States Supreme Court case of North Carolina v. Alford (1970).[10][12] Henry Alford had been indicted on a charge of first-degree murder in 1963.[18] Evidence in the case included testimony from witnesses that Alford had said, after the death of the victim, that he had killed the individual.[18] Court testimony showed Alford and the victim argued at the victim's house.[18] Alford left the house and afterwards the victim received a fatal gunshot wound when he opened the door responding to a knock.[18]

Alford was faced with the possibility of capital punishment if convicted by a jury trial.[19] The death penalty was the automatic sentence by North Carolina law at the time, if two requisites in the case were satisfied:[18] the defendant had to have pled not guilty, and the jury did not instead recommend a life sentence.[18] Had he pled guilty to first-degree murder, Alford would have had the possibility of a life sentence, but would have avoided the death penalty.[18] The defendant did not want to admit guilt. Alford pled guilty to second-degree murder and said he was doing so to avoid a death sentence were he to be convicted of first-degree murder after attempting to contest that charge.[18][20] Alford was sentenced to thirty years in prison after the trial judge in the case accepted the plea bargain and ruled that the defendant had been adequately informed by his lawyer.[18]...

Read more about the Alford case and origin of the Alford Plea:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alford_plea

Hannah Graham Suspect Jesse Matthew Convicted in Separate Attempted Murder Case

by M. Alex Johnson



".... Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr. was convicted Wednesday of a 2005 attempted murder and sexual assault — a case that had looked as it could delay his separate capital murder trial in the kidnapping and killing of University of Virginia student Hannah Graham.
Image: Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr.
Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr. in a booking photo after his arrest in September 2014. Galveston County, Texas, Sheriff's Office via AP

Matthew, 33, unexpectedly entered an Alford plea on the fourth day of his trial in Fairfax, Virginia, in a September 2005 attack on a woman outside her Fairfax home, where she was choked and sexually assaulted.

In an Alford plea, a defendant doesn't admit guilt, but he or she concedes that the prosecution has enough evidence to win a conviction.

It is treated by the court the same as a conviction, and Matthew could face as many as three life terms when he is sentenced in October....."

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/hannah-graham-suspect-jesse-matthew-convicted-separate-attempted-murder-case-n373346

Survivor of suspected serial predator will describe how attack affected her

By Justin Jouvenal  June 18 at 7:00 AM  

A victim of the suspected serial predator who is also accused of killing University of Virginia student Hannah Graham is expected to testify Thursday about how a brutal 2005 sexual assault affected her life.

The woman’s attacker, Jesse L. Matthew Jr., was convicted last week of attempted capital murder, abduction with intent to defile and sexual penetration with an object in connection with the Fairfax City case. The hearing Thursday is part of the sentencing proceedings against him.

~Snipped~

Normally, the woman would have testified about the impact of the crime during Matthew’s sentencing hearing in October. Because the woman is from India, the judge allowed her to testify now so she doesn’t have to make another return trip to the United States. The Post generally does not name victims of sexual assault.

Matthew faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced on Oct. 2.

Read more:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/survivor-of-suspected-serial-predator-will-describe-how-attack-affected-her/2015/06/17/35b4a0ea-1525-11e5-9518-f9e0a8959f32_story.html?wprss=rss_local

Victim in Jesse Matthew attack testifies about aftermath
Associated Press
By MATTHEW BARAKAT
June 18, 2015 3:58 PM

~snipped~
FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — She flew half way around the globe to tell the world about a horrific attack that happened a decade ago, something she had placed into emotional "cold storage" and didn't want to relive.
And on Thursday, the woman who sexually assaulted by Jesse Matthew nine years before he was charged with abducting and killing University of Virginia student Hannah Graham testified again about what she experienced in September 2005, on a night she was sure she was going to die.

"I felt utterly helpless," she said, describing her emotions as Matthew was carrying her out into the woods to commit a brutal sexual assault. "I was screaming and I thought no one would come out. I feared this was going to be the end of my life."...

...The hearing lasted about 10 minutes. She did not look at Matthew, dressed in a green jail jumpsuit, while she spoke.

She described the physical pain from the attack and the lingering emotional pain. She said she wanted "to move away from home and go where people don't know you and don't know this has happened to you ... I basically stopped living."...

...She said her emotions "went into some sort of cold storage for a while, and your first instinct is to run away from it. But I gathered myself," she said. "If I didn't testify, what if this person is not charged and others were harmed? I did not want that to happen."...

Read more:
http://news.yahoo.com/victim-jesse-matthew-attack-testifies-aftermath-183154241.html;_ylt=AwrTcdELnYRVHG4AYS8PxQt.;_ylu=X3oDMTEzMmZsdDE1BGNvbG8DZ3ExBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDRkZHRUMwXzEEc2VjA3Nj

What the Jesse Matthew jury never heard

By Neal Augenstein | @AugensteinWTOP
June 19, 2015 1:44 pm

FAIRFAX, Va. — Newly unsealed documents reveal details jurors never heard in Jesse Matthew’s trial for a 2005 sexual attack in Fairfax County.

Jurors were never told why Matthew happened to be in the Fairfax area the night he viciously attacked the then-26-year old woman as she walked home from the Giant with two bags of groceries.

Sources say prosecutors believe Matthew, who lived in Charlottesville, was visiting friends.

Included in the material, which was unsealed by Circuit Court Judge David Schell after Matthew entered an Alford plea, were notes from an interview with a friend of Matthew’s.

The man, Sunny Patel, was subpoenaed by the prosecution but wasn’t called to the stand to testify during the trial.

Read more:

http://wtop.com/local/2015/06/what-the-jesse-matthew-jury-never-heard/

Defense seeks recusal of judge in Jesse Matthew case
Request for recusal of Judge Cheryl Higgins will be discussed June 25
by Kathleen Watson | Jun 23 2015 |


"....The motion said Higgins — whose daughter is a rising third-year student at the University — may be unable to preside in an unbiased manner due to her relationship to the University as a parent and any previous involvement she may have had in the case.

In response to initial questions from the defense, Higgins said a family member attended a vigil for Graham soon after her disappearance.

“To the best of my knowledge, one of my immediate family members attended a vigil for Hannah Graham one week after her disappearance,” Higgins said in her formal response. “It is my understanding that this vigil was held prior to the body being found and there was no indication that she was deceased at that time.


The request for Higgins to recuse herself will be formally discussed June 25. ...."

http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2015/06/jesse-matthew-judge-recusal

Ex-Girlfriend Letter to Judge: Jesse Matthew Raped as Child
By matthew barakat, associated press
FAIRFAX, Va. — Sep 29, 2015, 4:25 PM ET

A former girlfriend of Jesse Matthew says that he was raped as a child and that it played a key role in allegations that he raped and killed multiple women.

...In a letter to the judge made public Tuesday, the girlfriend, whose full name was not included in the letter, said Matthew was sexually abused by at least three different people.

The woman, who said she dated the man known to friends as L.J. from 2003 to 2005 after meeting him at Christopher Newport University, said he "was sexually abused by at least three different individuals (that I'm aware of) through his elementary school years. One individual in particular raped him on several occasions and forced L.J. to keep it a secret. I have no doubt this repeated sexual trauma during his developmental years played a key role in the allegations against him."

...He will be sentenced Friday in that case and could get life in prison.

(BBM)

Read more:  http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/girlfriend-letter-judge-jesse-matthew-raped-child-34133163

^^^ I hope that he does get life in prison. If not, he will get life in prison for either Hannah Graham's murder or Morgan Harrington's murder. Another evil one for sure.

^^^

He got 3 life sentences!

Jesse Matthew sentenced to life in prison in brutal attack on woman in Fairfax
By Justin Jouvenal and T. Rees Shapiro October 2 at 2:38 PM

The man accused of killing college students Hannah Graham and Morgan Harrington was sentenced Friday to life in prison on a separate conviction for abducting, sexually assaulting and attempting to kill a woman in Fairfax in 2005.

...Matthew was convicted in June on charges of attempted capital murder, abduction and sexual penetration with an object for grabbing a then 26-year-old woman as she walked home one night in September 2005.

Fairfax County Judge David S. Schell, who called the attack “vicious and brutal,” sentenced Matthew to three life terms in prison.

(BBM)

Read more:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/jesse-matthew-to-be-sentenced-in-brutal-attack-on-woman-in-fairfax/2015/10/01/39bd9114-685f-11e5-8325-a42b5a459b1e_story.html

He certainly earned every day of those sentences.
The pain can never be fully healed.
He can not ever accept "full responsibility" for his actions as long as he is alive.
And if he had gotten a death penalty? Still, not "full responsibility" as he had the element of surprise on his victims...

May the souls of his victims find some resolution of peace.

Man charged with murder of British-born student Hannah Graham in US sentenced to life for sexual assault

09:47, 3 Oct 2015 | Updated  11:15, 3 Oct 2015  | By Rob Bleaney

Jesse Matthew Jr, who will be tried for the murder of British born student and another woman next year, was sentenced to three consecutive life terms for attack in 2005

A man charged with the murders of British-born student Hannah Graham and Morgan Harrington in the US has been sentenced to life in prison for a sexual assault on a woman a decade ago.

Jesse Matthew Jr, 33, of Charlottesville, Virginia, was officially sentenced to three consecutive life terms for attempted capital murder, abduction, and sexual assault of a woman in 2005.

~Snipped~

Mr Morrogh told reporters after Friday's hearing that the life sentence was appropriate, given the viciousness of the crime, and said he was certain the sentence reflected the judge's feelings about the Fairfax assault only, and that he did not take pending charges in the Graham and Harrington deaths into account.

Mr Morrogh said that under Virginia law, Matthew would be eligible for geriatric release at age 60 - 27 years from now - regardless of the life sentences.

~Snipped~


Hannah Graham (left) and Morgan Harrington (right)

"He seeks mercy but is himself merciless. He seeks empathy, but he is heartless," Mr Morrogh said.

Hannah Graham's parents, and Morgan Harrington's mother, Gil Harrington, attended Friday's sentencing.

Both Hannah and Morgan were college students who were found dead in the Charlottesville area after going missing.

Read more:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/man-charged-murder-british-born-6563970

"He seeks mercy but is himself merciless. He seeks empathy, but he is heartless," Mr Morrogh said.
Yes, the above quote from the judge pretty accurately sums up the evil that is Jesse Matthew.

Next up: Justice for Morgan and Hannah.

Moving to Closed.

Hannah Graham's thread is here:  http://www.realitychatter.com/t4581p100-hannah-graham-18-went-missing-on-september-13-2014-jesse-matthew-has-been-charged-with-her-murder-trial-date-set-for-july-5-2016-charlottesville-va#257072

Morgan Harrington's thread is here:   http://www.realitychatter.com/t1180p150-morgan-harrington-found-deceased-1-26-10#257369