A trial stemming from an incident involving two individuals, one armed with a machete and the other a skateboard, returned a verdict of not guilty earlier this month.
That March 19th confrontation occurred in the middle of the afternoon outside the Fredericksburg General District Courthouse on Princess Anne Street before it was interrupted by armed deputies from the Fredericksburg Sheriff’s Office.
The individual armed with the machete, who originally faced charges of brandishing a machete / bladed weapon and malicious wounding, was found innocent in an August 8th trial by a jury of his peers. The individual armed with the skateboard was not charged.
hyperbole spoke with Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Gary Godman about the case after the verdict. Godman said the misdemeanor count of brandishing was dropped to focus on the more serious felony charge of malicious wounding. That’s a tactic referred to as “charge consolidation,” often used to ensure efficiency and fairness.
Court records show that the August 8th trial, which showed the surveillance footage from the incident, also included a defense motion to suppress some of the evidence in the case. That request was granted before a jury returned a verdict of not guilty.
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hyperbole has obtained the surveillance footage from outside the Fredericksburg General District Court where the incident took place.
Those videos, taken from cameras outside the building and across the street, show that the individual originally purported to be the victim in the incident appears to initiate the confrontation before swinging his skateboard at the accused’s head.
In turn, that individual drew a machete before chasing the skateboard-wielding adversary to the front of the courthouse, striking him several times before armed deputies from the Fredericksburg Sheriff’s Department were able to stop the dispute. The individual armed with the skateboard sustained injuries to the face as a result of the confrontation and received medical treatment at the scene.
Due to the nature of the subject matter, that video is currently available to view under the same article on myhyperbole.com.
