As most eyes will be on the federal courtroom where Judge James Spencer will be giving the jury its instructions in the McDonnell trial, elsewhere in Central Virginia, the judicial wheels continue to grind ahead in another trial of an elected official…Del. Joe Morrissey. Recall that Morrissey was indicted earlier this summer on five charges for his alleged relationship with a minor. Morrissey strenuously denies the charges and staged one of the more…interesting…press conferences to address the matter.
If convicted on all charges, Morrissey could face up to 30 years in prison.
But Morrissey hasn’t stopped pushing back, and in the process, reminding us of how he earned the nickname “Fighin’ Joe”:
Morrissey’s lawyers asked a judge to dismiss indictments against Morrissey, a Richmond-area defense attorney, partly because of what his attorneys presented as nearly two decades of bad blood between Morrissey and the prosecutor, William F. Neely.
“What is motivating Mr. Neely?” defense attorney Anthony “Tony” F. Troy asked the judge rhetorically.
“(There is) a reasonable likelihood of vindictiveness,” said Troy, who also asked retired Stafford County Circuit Judge J. Martin Bass to remove Neely from the case.In the 2½-hour hearing in Henrico County Circuit Court, Neely acknowledged that he has “great disdain” for Morrissey on a professional level, but he contended that the disdain is not personal.
“I could care less about Joe Morrissey,” said Neely, adding that he has long believed Morrissey should be prohibited from practicing law in Virginia because of what Neely considers questionable practices.
This is what Morrissey is known for — swinging back very hard against prosecutors. That the patented Morrissey counter comes from former AG Tony Troy (a one-time legal advisor to the McDonnells) is interesting. One is left to wonder where this sort of combativeness was during most of their defense.
Morrissey’s problems, rightly, haven’t drawn the same amount of attention as the McDonnell trial. Delegates facing judges isn’t exactly a new thing.
Nor is the idea of politicians being offered plea deals rather than trial. Phil Hamilton was offered one. Morrissey was, too. So were the McDonnells. Word is the McDonnells’ first set of lawyers told them to take the deal it because they saw no way they could win at trial. We shall see.
Just as we shall see for Joe.
