Judge dismisses petition, fines Norfolk lawyer $500
Matheny-Willard sought to have city’s top prosecutor investigated
NORFOLK — A petition seeking to have Norfolk’s top prosecutor investigated by a special grand jury was dismissed by a judge Friday, and the lawyer who filed it was ordered to pay a $500 fine.
Norfolk Circuit Judge Everett Martin announced in a 10-page ruling he was dismissing the petition submitted last month by attorney Amina Matheny-Willard on behalf of five citizens and against Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi.
The judge chastised Matheny-Willard, accusing her of using the filing as part of a publicity stunt to jump start an election bid to unseat Fatehi. He ordered her to pay $500 in sanctions within 60 days.
“The court finds the petition was filed for an improper purpose: political publicity,” Martin wrote. “The court does not appreciate being used by an attorney for political advertising.”
Matheny-Willard sought the state’s special grand jury statute to have Fatehi investigated as a “public nuisance.” The petition claimed that since he took over last year, his office has failed to adequately prepare for trials, handle cases competently or keep victims and witnesses properly informed.
The five people who signed on included Norfolk resident Michael Muhammad, a frequent critic of Fatehi, and four citizens impacted by gun violence in the city in recent years who believe Fatehi and his staff poorly handled cases involving their loved ones.
Three signers are related to Jarrell Hairston, a 26-yearold man who was shot and killed in March 2020. They say Fatehi’s office offered a deal to the accused shooter that would have resulted in no prison time, but it was rejected by the judge. Another signer is the grandmother of a baby shot and seriously injured in August 2020. The accused gunman was acquitted last month.
Fatehi has come under fire over the past year for missteps in some cases. Multiple high-profile murder cases have fallen apart before trial or ended in acquittals, and several plea agreements offered by his prosecutors have been rejected by judges.
Filing the petition under the state’s public nuisance law was a novel usage of the statute, Matheny-Willard acknowledged.
“But law is made,” by applying existing law “to new circumstances. That’s how desegregation happened,” she said. “I’m going to continue to speak truth to power. I’m not going to be deterred.”
Matheny-Willard has been practicing law for 23 years and lost to Fatehi in the 2021 Democratic primary. She said she’s been sanctioned twice by judges in the past year as she speaks out against what she sees as injustices by police, prosecutors or sheriffs.
Martin wrote that Matheny-Willard’s petition failed to identify a public nuisance as defined by the law. He also noted that two days before filing it, Matheny-Willard announced on Facebook she was again running for commonwealth’s attorney in 2025. She wrote her intention to file a petition against Fatehi and her need for plaintiffs.
“I am trying to file a document in order to hold the Commonwealth’s Attorney accountable,” the post said, according to Martin’s order. “I need plaintiffs ... I only need five people.”
“She succeeded in her wish for publicity,” the judge wrote. “At least two local television news stations reported the hearing.”
Matheny-Willard said she will appeal the ruling and sanctions to the Virginia Court of Appeals.
“What I’m finding is when you speak truth to power, things like that happen,” she said. “So it’s not anything I’m worried about.”
The judge’s order also was critical of Fatehi, calling him out for “unprofessional” behavior during a court hearing held earlier this week about the petition.
“He was, at times, condescending and insulting to Ms. Matheny-Willard and (co-counsel Zachary Lawrence),” Martin wrote. “To their credit, they did not respond in kind.”
Despite the judge’s comments about him, Fatehi commended his ruling.
“This was a court filing in bad faith,” Fatehi said. “It was completely legally baseless, it was frivolous and it was so beyond the pale that the judge imposed a penalty on the lawyer who filed it, which is practically unheard of.”
Fatehi said he sympathizes with the crime victims who signed on to the petition and only wants the best for them.
“I feel for these victims,” he said. “And I am very aware of their pain.”