Ex-Cop Sentenced Over Jan. 6; More Va., Headlines

Staff Report, Virginia Mercury

August 12, 2022

• A former Rocky Mount police officer who participated in the attack on the U.S. Capitol was sentenced to more than seven years in prison, one of the harshest punishments yet for a Jan. 6 defendant.—Roanoke Times

• An author who set out to write a book about former Gov. Ralph Northam’s blackface scandal was unable to uncover the origins of the infamous yearbook photo.—Associated Press

• “Charlottesville hired a black police chief to heal. Then it fired her.”—Washington Post

• Five years after the deadly Unite the Right rally, Charlottesville is still grappling with its identity.—VPM

• Nigerian scammers convinced VCU to pay them $470,000 by posing as a Richmond construction company.—Richmond Times-Dispatch

• A Chesapeake judge declared a mistrial after a jury deadlocked in the case of an off-duty police officer charged with killing a mentally ill man outside a grocery store.—Virginian-Pilot

• Former Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax has filed a defamation suit against New York Public Radio over a discussion of the sexual assault allegations against him.—Current

• State and local officials are distributing playing cards to Richmond jail inmates to try to get info about cold cases.—WAVY

• A candidate for the Leesburg Town Council is facing questions about whether he actually lives in the town.—Loudoun Times-Mirror

This story was originally published by the Virginia Mercury. For more stories from the Virginia Mercury, visit Virginia Mercury.com.