Police in Henrico County have reported that the son of Virginia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leroy Hassell was arrested on charges connected with a Henrico home invasion. On July 1, Henrico police arrested 23-year-old Leroy R. Hassell Jr. for armed robbery and use of a firearm in commission of a felony.
The junior Hassell appeared in Chesterfield Court via video conference. His attorney, Stephen Benjamin, told news reporters that the case was assigned to a retired judge after all the judges in Henrico recused themselves from the case due to their affiliations with his father.
Chong Mounce, the man who claims that he was beaten and robbed by Hassell Jr. and his accomplice, told police that the two men knocked on his door about 2:00 p.m. Monday afternoon, asked to speak to one of Mounce’s friends, then pulled out a gun. The victim also said that the men stole his passport, video games, money and an iPhone. The assault occurred at a home along the 2100 block of Libbie Avenue.
The weapons used in the robbery were recovered at the scene of the arrest. Hassell Jr. also recently served time in Henrico County jail for a probation violation and falsifying records. Hassell Jr. was recognized by the victim as the man struck him in the head with the butt of a handgun through a Facebook page.
Leroy Rountree Hassell Sr., a Norfolk native, was the first black elected chief justice of the Virginia Supreme Court. He was elected by the court’s justices to succeed Chief Justice Harry L. Carrico, who had held the post since 1981.
In 1984, Pennsylvania was the first state to choose a black chief judge of the highest court. Other states who have had black chief justices include Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Illinois, Michigan and South Carolina.
Justice Hassell Sr. is well known for a cross burning case, where in a dissenting opinion, he wrote that the “majority opinion invalidates a statute that for almost 50 years has protected our citizens from being placed in fear of bodily harm by the burning of a cross.” The 4-3 decision overturned a 1952 state law that banned Ku Klux Klan-type cross burnings. The justices ruled the law was an unconstitutional abridgment of free speech. –torrance stephens, ph.d.
For more with Dr. Stephens, visit twitter.com/rawdawgbuffalo and rawdawgb.blogspot.com.
