Abduction, eluding charges face defendants
Konick vs. town, Spethmann cases on August docket
Actions in Rappahannock County District Court this Tuesday (Aug.4) included arraignments on charges ranging from abduction to DWI to eluding police.
Ronald Edward Huntington, 42, of Amissville was arraigned on charges of abduc- tion and assault stemming from an incident that occurred at a private residence on July 25. According to the report filed by Rappahannock County Sheriff’s Office investigator Shawn Walters, Huntington is alleged to have broken into the bedroom of Dennis Cranston, a friend of Huntington’s mother, chased him around the room and brought him to the floor. He held a knife to Cranston’s neck and threatened mur-
der, according to the complaint, which said Huntington’s mother, Viola Huntington, was able to pull her son away. There were no reported injuries. The case was continued to Sept. 1.
Pamela Denise Lang, 41, of Marshall, was arraigned on a charge of contempt and failing to report to the Rappahannock Shenandoah Warren Regional Jail to serve out a sentence for a first offense of driving under the influence with a blood alcohol level of .15 percent to .20 percent. On July 7, she pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced to 90 days in jail with all but five days suspended, to be served on weekends; and 12 months’ suspension of her license. Her case was continued to Sept. 4.
Jordan Keith Manning, 21, of Brandy Station, was arraigned on a felony charge of eluding police and driving on a suspended license. According to the report filed on July 27, RCSO Deputy M. Dodson observed Manning speeding in Woodville. Manning refused to stop when Dodson pursued with his blue lights on, and later his siren. Manning was finally stopped in Sperryville by Sheriff Connie C. Smith. His case was continued to Sept. 15.
William James Bedortha II, 32, of Flint Hill, was arraigned on charges of driving under the influence, possession of a schedule I or II drug, and possession of a firearm while in possession of a schedule I or II drug. His case was continued to Sept. 1.
SHERIFF’S REPORT
On July 23, Deputy Dodson arrested Ayotunde Abiola Adedipe, 22, of Baltimore, and charged him with driving under the influence. An arraignment is scheduled Aug. 18.
CIVIL COURT CASES
The Rappahannock County Circuit Court has scheduled an Aug. 20 hearing on motions and responses in the case of David Konick vs. the Town of Washington — a suit that Rappahannock lawyer Konick originally filed in March, asking the court to invalidate several actions taken by the town council in 2013 as part of a “Town Square Beautification” partnership with the Inn at Little Washington and Trinity Episcopal Church.
Attorneys for the town and the Inn successfully challenged Konick’s standing to file the suit, but Judge Jeffrey W. Parker’s May 18 ruling also allowed Konick to file an amended petition, which he did. Attorneys at the Aug. 20 hearing are expected to address the town and Inn’s new “demurrer” motions — again challenging the legal basis of Konick’s amended suit — as well as Konick’s responses to those, and the most recent development: a July 10 motion to intervene on Konick’s behalf by town resident Dawn Schimke, a motion that, if granted, Konick says will render moot the claims against his standing.
This morning ( Aug. 6) in circuit court, a hearing is scheduled on a motion by attorney Michael T. Brown, representing former town council member Dan Spethmann, to stay enforcement of the court’s judgement of debt against Spethmann, a judgement originally stemming from a jury’s award in a civil trial in Dallas County in February 2004 — for $ 2.4 million ( plus assorted interest).
The original suit was brought by a principal of Strategic Gas Services Inc., a Texas company in which Spethmann was a partner, over what the former partner said was a $ 300,000 loan that was never repaid. Spethmann has challenged, in his own Texas civil suit, the company’s right to pursue the judgement; his attorney Brown’s motion and memorandum claim that SGSI had no enforceable interest in the original Texas judgement when it sought to bring it to Virginia in late 2014, and that the judgement had been long ago transferred to SGSI principal Fred Anderson.