A decision on whether to move the trial of a Black man accused of shooting at a white deputy, or move the Confederate statue

[Arheel's Uncle]

Judge grants continuance in Neal case

• By EVAN GOODENOW The Winchester Star
• 5 hrs ago

BERRYVILLE — A decision on whether to move the trial of a Black man accused of shooting at a white deputy, or move the Confederate statue on the grounds of the Clarke County Courthouse, has been postponed.

Area public defender Timothy S. Coyne has said the statue would prejudice a jury. He sought the continuance, which was granted by Judge Alexander R. Iden in Clarke Circuit Court on Monday. Coyne hopes a decision will first be made on whether the county or the Sons of Confederate Veterans Turner Ashby Camp #1567 will take possession of the statue. The civil case is scheduled to be heard by Iden on Jan. 19.
"If the court orders the monument be moved, it would be important to know who to order to move it," Coyne said.



The criminal trial in question involves, who on Oct. 5, 2019, was recorded on a police cruiser camera firing a single pistol shot at now-retired Clarke County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Nicholas Donald Chambers in an apparent suicide-by-cop attempt. The shooting occurred in the median on Harry Flood Byrd Sr. Highway (Va. 7).
Chambers was responding to a call for an ambulance and was checking Neal's driver's license when the bullet hit the cruiser's front bumper. Chambers fired back, wounding Neal in the right arm. Neal could be heard begging Chambers to kill him as he lay on his back after being shot. Neal, 35, of Herndon, has been charged with attempted capital murder of a police officer, use of a firearm in a felony, possession of a firearm by a felon and malicious shooting.
Coyne contends Black people can't get a fair trial in the county with a statue honoring men who fought to preserve slavery outside the courthouse. Erected in 1900, the statue shows a Confederate soldier saddened by the news of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox in 1865.

To bolster his contention that the monument is a symbol of white supremacy, Coyne unsuccessfully sought $5,000 from the court to pay the expenses of historian Karen Cox to be an expert defense witness. Cox is a history professor at the University of North Carolina Charlotte and author of "Dixie’s Daughters: The United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Preservation of Confederate Culture." In a written motion asking to hire Cox, Coyne quoted from Cox's new book, "No Common Ground: Confederate Monuments and the Ongoing Fight for Racial Justice."
"These statutes were not simply works of public art or about honoring the dead; their larger purpose was to signal that white men were firmly in control of the southern legal system, the same system that disenfranchised black voters and enforced Jim Crow legislation," Cox wrote. "And regardless of their artistic significance, monuments were intentional because white southerners regarded them as object lessons for future generations about the Confederate past and also about racial superiority."
In a written response, Anne M. Williams, county commonwealth's attorney, asked Iden to deny the $5,000 request. Citing an Oklahoma case as precedent, she said Coyne hadn't met the legal standard for hiring an expert witness for an indigent client.
"The defendant has not demonstrated that the expert assistance requested would materially assist him in the preparation of his defense and that the denial of such services would result in a fundamentally unfair trial," Williams wrote. "Testimony regarding an interpretation of a statue is not 'likely to be a significant factor his defense' to the crimes for which he is charged."
Iden denied Coyne's request, saying Cox's testimony would not affect any potential bias and prejudice in jury selection, which is why Coyne is seeking to move the statue or the trial.
The case was continued to March 21 when Iden may rule on the statue removal/change of venue motion. Neal is schedule to stand trial beginning June 6.