FAIRFAX — Earlier today Virginia Attorney General candidates, State Senator Ken Cuccinelli and Delegate Steve Shannon participated in a live debate on 103.5FM WTOP radio. During the debate, Delegate Shannon confirmed that he had read the Melendez-Diaz decision prior to making mistakes in July on the Melendez decision. The Melendez-Diaz decision allowed some drug offenders and drunk drivers in Virginia to go unpunished until Senator Cuccinelli, supported by an overwhelming, bi-partisan majority of Commonwealth's Attorneys, persuaded Governor Kaine to call a Special Session and pass a legislative fix to the problem.
Senator Cuccinelli determined that a legislative fix was required to stop Virginia from losing drunk driving and drug cases. Delegate Shannon attacked Senator Cuccinelli's position vaguely stating that an administrative fix would be more appropriate; however at no time - ever - did Delegate Shannon suggest any administrative fix available for the Melendez problem.
Melendez-Diaz Facts
In the Melendez-Diaz decision on June 25th, the Supreme Court held that it was a violation of the Sixth Amendment's Confrontation Clause to require a defendant to call a lab technician as a witness in their own criminal case, as was required under VA law at the time of the Melendez decision. This conflicted with how Virginia prosecutions in many drunk driving and drug cases were conducted, and Virginia began losing many cases because of the application of the Melendez ruling. The Melendez case left unaddressed in Virginia would have continued to result in more DUI and drug cases being lost in Virginia. After the Melendez decision, chaos ensued as prosecutions quickly began to backlog because enough lab technicians were not available to appear in court.
Senator Cuccinelli reacted quickly, analyzing the case and talking to prosecutors around the Commonwealth. He was the first to recognize the seriousness of the Melendez case, and on the evening of July 9th called on Governor Kaine to convene a Special Session of the General Assembly to provide the necessary legislative fix to the problems created by the Melendez-Diaz ruling.
The afternoon of July 10th, only a few hours later, Delegate Shannon called the idea a "political stunt." On July 19th, Delegate Shannon, standing by his position that the request for a special session was a " political stunt", prominently featured a Roanoke Times editorial entitled "A Rush to Legislate" on his website, which viscerally blasted the notion of a Special Session. It still can be found on Shannon's website today.
On July 14th, Delegate Shannon sent a letter to Senator Cuccinelli about one of Shannon's own bills from 2007 (HB3086). Delegate Shannon claimed his bill, which died in the House Courts Committee, would have "fixed Virginia's law so we wouldn't face the situation with drunk driving cases arising out of the Melendez-Diaz decision." This was Delegate's Shannon's second error in the law regarding Melendez. Delegate Shannon's bill would have had no effect on the problems created by Melendez. This conclusion was shared by every single prosecutor who read Delegate Shannon's bill. See letter sent to Shannon regarding this here.
On July 22nd, Democrat Governor Tim Kaine agreed with Senator Cuccinelli and followed his lead by calling a Special Session to address the problems caused by the Melendez-Diaz decision.
Senator Cuccinelli put in the first bill of any legislator to address the Melendez problem. Two of his three major suggestions were adopted by the General Assembly and signed into law by Governor Tim Kaine. Since the legislation suggestion by Senator Cuccinelli was signed into law the Melendez problem in Virginia has largely been avoided.
In today's debate, Senator Cuccinelli asked Delegate Shannon when he first read the Melendez case. Shannon responded, "I read it shortly after it came out, Ken. And I spoke with the Governor about it. I advised the Governor to have a special session as well..."
Delegate Shannon's statement in today's debate flatly contradicts his public position for the last 3 months. However, Delegate Shannon had no explanation for why he allegedly told the Governor that he should call a special session at the same time he called Senator Cuccinelli's request for a special session a "political stunt".
In addition to the errors in law that Delegate Shannon made over a three month period regarding the Melendez case, he also got the death penalty wrong in the candidate's first debate on June 20th.
Senator Cuccinelli demonstrated today that he knows and clearly understands the constitution and Virginia law and is better prepared than his opponent to be the next Attorney General of Virginia.
