The special prosecutor handling cases related to Martinsville Mayor L.C. Jones has been recused.
Lynchburg Commonwealth’s Attorney Bethany Harrison, who had been appointed in the Martinsville matters on April 1, said in an email Tuesday that she moved to withdraw after consulting with the Virginia State Bar ethics hotline “due to a material conflict.” The Martinsville Circuit Court sent her a signed order appointing Colonial Heights Commonwealth’s Attorney Alfred Gray Collins III, she wrote.
Collins will be the third special prosecutor to handle the civil recall petition filed against Jones, and the second in charge of a state police investigation into city spending during the tenure of former Martinsville City Manager Aretha Ferrell-Benavides.
Jones was suspended from office in February by now-retired Circuit Judge G. Carter Greer. Last week, substitute Judge Marcus Brinks reinstated him to the city council.
That hearing was the only related matter in which Harrison had appeared in Martinsville since her appointment, and there she told the court of a possible conflict that would prevent her from moving forward. Harrison declined on Tuesday to disclose the conflict.
Martinsville Commonwealth’s Attorney Patrick Flinn, who preceded her on the civil issue, said before he was recused that the two issues were joined “at the hip.”
Flinn, too, had claimed conflicts of interest, including professional and personal relationships with city council members, staff and potential witnesses, but Greer denied Flinn’s January motion for a special prosecutor.
Greer did appoint an outside attorney in the forensic audit, Bedford County Commonwealth’s Attorney Wes Nance, but Nance departed in March after the General Assembly appointed him to a judgeship. Flinn renewed his motion for a special prosecutor, and substitute Judge James McGarry put Harrison in charge of both matters.
The petition to recall Jones, which a Martinsville woman filed on Jan. 13 with at least 375 signatures, accused the mayor of bribery, failure to disqualify himself from certain transactions, failure to disclose an alleged conflict of interest, and neglect of ministerial duties and incompetence under Virginia law.
Flinn, who under the law had to review the allegations, submitted a document to the court that alleged gifts from Ferrell-Benavides to Jones or Jones’ significant other, creating a conflict of interest that Jones ignored in several city meetings.
Jones, who has not been charged criminally, has denied any wrongdoing. One of his lawyers, Richmond-based Paul Krudys, has filed a motion arguing to have the case dismissed. A hearing scheduled for Wednesday was canceled, with no other date on the docket before a scheduled June 5 civil trial on the recall.
In a phone call on Tuesday afternoon, Collins said that Harrison contacted him on Monday to ask if he would take the case, and he received the court order on Tuesday. He said he had not yet seen either case file.
