Convictions against Lanexa man overturned in Virginia Court of Appeals

A Lanexa man had two charges overturned by the Virginia Court of Appeals during an Oct. 1, 2019 hearing.

W. Walker Ware IV had one charge of embezzlement and attempted extortion tossed by Judge William G. Petty.

During a June 18, 2018 trial, a New Kent Circuit Court jury had rendered verdicts against Ware, claiming that the developer for a New Kent subdivision failed to repair roads in a subdivision. The Commonwealth’s Attorney at that time, Linwood Gregory, said the defendant had also attempted to raise the cost to repair the road from $200 to $5,000. At that time, the jury found him guilty of the two crimes and assessed him a $2,500 on each one.

According to appellate court documentation, Ware argued that evidence in his circuit court was insufficient to “establish beyond a reasonable doubt” that the money was wrongfully appropriated or converted to Ware’s personal use when it came to the embezzlement charge. On the attempted extortion charge, the defendant argued that providing legal notice of intent to file a memorandum of lien was not a wrongful threat.

In a final judgment rendered by Judge Petty, New Kent Circuit Court erred in denying Ware’s motion to strike regarding the embezzlement indictment due to insufficient evidence to prove the money at issue was the property of another entrusted to Ware. It also erred the defendant’s motion to strike the attempted extortion indictment because the notice of intent to file a lien, the only alleged threat, was made in the context of a judicial facility. Both charges were reversed and dismissed.