Law & Crime

The Virginia State Crime Commission is recommending a package of legislation that would provide authorities with additional tools to investigate and prosecute child sexual abuse. 

The proposals followed a lengthy study that revealed the difficulties that law enforcement and Child Protective Services encounter as they try to unearth the facts about allegations.

Although the Crime Commission has recommended the legislative package, it still must pass the General Assembly before it could take effect.

State Senator Creigh Deeds has been discharged from the University of Virginia Medical Center. 

Deeds' release comes three days after he was stabbed more than 10 times in the head and neck by his son, who later committed suicide.

Police, the Inspector General, and the State Secretary of Health and Human Resources are investigating the incident.

Deeds sent out a tweet to his thousands of followers on Twitter. "I am alive so must live. Some wounds won't heal. Your prayers and your friendship are important to me," he wrote.

A community mental health organization is in the spotlight, after this week's attack on State Senator Creigh Deeds and the apparent suicide of his son. 

The Richmond Times-Dispatch said Gus Deeds had undergone a psychiatric evaluation Monday, but he was not admitted for in-patient care, because no hospitals in the area had psychiatric beds available.

But several facilities in the region report that they could have admitted Gus Deeds.

State Senator Creigh Deeds is one lawmaker who frequently updates his Facebook and Twitter accounts with what music he’s listening to.  Well wishers are now using music to send him messages of love and support.

It would be true justice for a state appeals court to declare Johnathon Montgomery innocent of the crimes of which he was convicted. That’s the argument of Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who today appeared before the  Virginia Court of  Appeals to urge approval of a Writ of Actual Innocence for Montgomery.  The panel weighed questions of justice versus executive and judicial separation of powers.