The Culpeper County Sheriff embroiled in the wrongful conviction case that put an innocent man in prison for nearly 12 years denied any wrongdoing in his Feb. 22 answer to the civil suit in the matter.
Sheriff Scott Jenkins, in his 32-page answer to the civil rights suit filed two months ago by plaintiff Michael Hash, denied he was among the so-called "architects" of Hash's wrongful conviction or that he engaged in any "police misconduct" in connection with the plaintiff's arrest and conviction. Jenkins further denied having any personal knowledge of anyone else engaging in such alleged misconduct.
Jenkins, in his answer, said Hash was lawfully arrested, and that Hash is guilty of murdering neighbor Thelma Scroggins in 1996.
Following U.S. District Court Judge James C. Turk's reversal of Hash's conviction last February, an outside prosecutor nolle prossed the charges against Hash, meaning there was insufficient evidence to prove his guilt.
The sheriff, in his answer to the subsequent civil suit filed in December, said, " to the extent (Hash) suffered any of the injuries and damages alleged in the complaint (they were) ... caused by the acts of third persons and/or circumstances over which (Jenkins) had no control, and thus (Hash) is not entitled to any recovery from him." Jenkins previously asserted the former CCSO Sheriff under which he served, Lee Hart, was largely to blame for any alleged wrongdoing in the Hash investigation and prosecution. Hart is not named in the civil suit.
Jenkins, seeking immunity in the civil suit, denied any monetary liability or that he violated any of Hash's legal or constitutional rights. Jenkins, in his response, "asserts that at all times he acted lawfully and properly, in good faith and with probable cause to believe (Hash) had committed a crime with which he was charged ... (and) prosecuted."
In previous depositions related to appeals by Hash, Jenkins testified that prosecution witnesses Eric Weakley and Alesia Shelton lied numerous times and that, "To this day, I do not believe the story that they told - that three teenage boys murdered Thelma Scroggins - is plausible." The sheriff also said in a sworn statement that Hash's arrest was not "proper" because the CCSO "had a very weak case." The initial investigation concluded a single assailant killed Scroggins.
Jenkins, in his answer, said his previous statements speak for themselves, and denied there was no probable cause to arrest Hash.
In additionally filing a motion Feb. 22 to dismiss the claim for pre-conviction suppression of evidence, Jenkins' attorney argued police officers cannot be held liable for suppression of evidence unless the plaintiff's conviction was overturned on the basis of a Brady violation.
In Hash's case, his conviction was not overturned on such a basis, Jenkins' attorney said.
Jenkins responds: Paul Carter
In his Feb. 22 answer to Hash's civil suit, Jenkins "states that with all due respect to this court's decision in the habeas corpus case, that he has not had an opportunity to defend himself and was not a party to and did not represent the commonwealth in the habeas corpus action."
The sheriff has refused repeated requests from the Star-Exponent to tell his side of the story.
Jenkins, in his answer, denied involvement in or knowledge of the jail transfer of Hash so as to allegedly expose him to known prison informant Paul Carter, a scheme recently acknowledged by Hart and former Culpeper County prosecutor Gary Close.
Jenkins acknowledged in his answer that after Carter testified against Hash at trial implicating him in the Scroggins murder, the informant subsequently sought and was granted a reduced sentence, "in part, because of the information he furnished in (Hash's) criminal case."
According to the Hash civil suit, two unnamed Culpeper law enforcement officials reportedly visited Carter prior to the Hash transfer to feed Carter information about the Scroggins murder. Hash has said he spoke briefly with Carter while in the Charlottesville jail, but certainly never admitted to the murder.
Jenkins, in his answer, admitted he and current chief deputy James Mack went to interview Carter in June 2000 "at the direction of either their supervisor or the Office of the Commonwealth's Attorney," but denied feeding Carter any information or that he created a false report for the file stating Hash confessed the crime to Carter.
Jenkins admitted he received several letters from Carter while he was in jail.
Mack subsequently testified at Carter's July 20, 2001 hearing on the federal drug charges, saying Carter testified at the Hash case, ultimately helping Culpeper officials secure the conviction. Mack was the only witness besides Carter, whose sentence was reduced from 180 months to 60 months, time served, and was released from prison.
Shelton interviews
In his answer to the civil suit, Jenkins said his "alleged sworn statement" from 2010 that he "believes the sheriff's department investigation was not handled properly" speaks for itself.
One of the first witnesses he and Mack interviewed was the plaintiff's father, Jeff Hash, who suggested they speak with Shelton, their niece. Shelton was convicted in the 1999 shooting of a man in Culpeper County with her boyfriend, and was serving a seven-year jail sentence. According to Hash's lawyers, Shelton was interviewed multiple times by Mack and Jenkins because of the similarities of the crimes.
In a March 2000 recording of an interview with Shelton, Jenkins and Mack offered to "help" her or to "shorten (her) sentence" in exchange for information. Jenkins, in his answer, said the recording speaks for itself.
Following an unrecorded cigarette break with Mack, Shelton came back inside, the recorder was turned back on and Shelton said, "that's when it hit me" vaguely describing discussions that supposedly took place between Hash and friends Jason Kloby and Weakley about murdering Scroggins.
Shelton then told Mack, "See, I told you I'd help" to which Mack responded, "And I appreciate that ... I'll try to be a man of my word, too."
Jenkins, in his answer, said the recording speaks for itself, and so do the results of the polygraph given to Shelton four days later by the Virginia State Police showing she was deceptive in answering every single question implicating Hash. Prior to Shelton's statements, there was no evidence directly implicating Hash in the murder, Jenkins admitted in his answer.
Kloby was acquitted of the crime prior to Hash's trial. He is a registered sex offender serving time in a Virginia prison on other charges.
Weakley interviews
Based on Shelton's statements, Mack and Jenkins next interviewed Weakley, who steadfastly denied any involvement in the murder in initial interviews. Jenkins, in his answer, denied knowing about an off-the-record, unrecorded discussion Weakley allegedly had with former CCSO investigative supervisor Calvin Bruce Cave during which Weakley said he was present when Hash and Kloby murdered Scroggins.
Weakley served almost seven years in jail in the crime per a plea deal reached with Close after Hash was convicted of capital murder. Close said at Hash's trial there was no deal in place with Weakley.
In 2011, Weakley recanted his previous testimony saying "Jenkins and Mack showed me everything you can imagine about the crime ... talked to me about a lot of the other details of the murder, such as the location where Mrs. Scroggins's body had been found, the position it was in, how she died," and that in subsequent conversations, "the investigators became extremely frustrated and they told me what I was saying wasn't matching up with what they already knew. When I would answer questions in a way they didn't like, the investigators would suggest I was lying or confused."
Jenkins said Weakley's statement speaks for itself, and denied coaching any witnesses or feeding them information.
Jenkins, in his answer, said Weakley "eventually implicated himself" and Hash in the Scroggins' murder.
Virginia State Police Special Agent Wayne Carwile, assisting with the Scroggins case in 2000-2001, disagreed with the decision to arrest Hash, saying in 2011 he didn't believe a word Weakley or Shelton said. Carwile voiced his concerns about Weakley's credibility to "anyone who would listen," telling Close that Weakley was "just saying things." Jenkins, in his answer, said the statement speaks for itself.
Weakley has since served his sentence and is seeking exoneration from his conviction in the Scroggins murder.
Civil suit
Jenkins and Mack are named in all eight counts alleged in Hash's civil suit: false arrest, two counts of fabrication of evidence, pre-conviction suppression of favorable evidence, conspiracy to violate constitutional rights, post-conviction suppression of favorable evidence, malicious prosecution and false imprisonment.
Also named in the civil suit is former Culpeper County Commonwealth's Attorney Gary Close, who resigned shortly after Turk handed down his ruling. Close has denied wrongdoing in the criminal prosecution and is seeking dismissal of the civil suit.
Additional civil suit defendants Cave, former CCSO Jailer Mary Peters Dwyer and Paul Carter, a prison informant who testified against Hash at trial, also denied wrongdoing in their answers recently filed.
The 12-year-old criminal case against Hash hinged on the testimony of three witnesses - Shelton, Weakley and Carter, in federal jail in Charlottesville at the time on drug charges.
Hash is seeking unspecified monetary damages and a trial by jury in his wrongful conviction civil claim that he "suffered and continues to suffer grievous permanent injury, severe distress, pain, anguish, embarrassment, loss of companionship and loss of job training and employment." Hash, 32, has been free nearly a year.
His claims against Jenkins mirror many of the findings detailed in Judge Turk's ruling as part of new evidence uncovered during the federal habeas proceeding: 1) that Carter testified falsely at Hash's 2001 trial when he stated he expected "nothing" in exchange for his testimony, and that Jenkins, and others, knew that testimony was false because there was a promise in place; 2) that Hash's transfer from the Culpeper Jail to the Albemarle Regional Jail was orchestrated by the CCSO in conjunction with the commonwealth's attorney's office so as to expose Hash to Carter; 3) that Jenkins and Mack coached Weakley and fed him information about the crime, including photos of the crime scene and 4) that Weakley and Shelton both failed polygraph tests in their statements implicating Hash, results that were never disclosed to the defense or jury.
Turk wrote in his habeas ruling freeing Hash, "The conduct of Investigators Jenkins and Mack ... rises to the level of outrageous misconduct because the acts were intentional and not merely negligent."
Background
Turk overturned Hash's capital murder conviction in a scathing written reversal almost a year ago (Feb. 28), freeing Hash and taking serious issue with local authorities handling of the case in the 1996 murder of Hash's 74-year-old neighbor, Thelma Scroggins.
Scroggins was murdered in her home. She lived 1.2 miles from where Hash, now of Albemarle County, was living at the time with his parents and brother. There was no sign of forced entry the Saturday evening in July when Scroggins was killed with a rare .22-caliber rifle that was never recovered.
"Having reviewed the voluminous record in this case, the Court is disturbed by the miscarriage of justice that occurred in this case and finds that Hash's trial is an example of an 'extreme malfunction in the state criminal justice system,'" Turk wrote in his conclusion granting Hash full habeas corpus relief under the law, finding Culpeper authorities "engaged in a pattern of nondisclosure and deception" in prosecuting Hash.
Hash's appeals - doggedly pursued by his mother - were previously denied four times at the local and state level.
In 2010, he filed a petition for federal relief, alleging his own attorneys were ineffective at trial and that Culpeper officials violated his right to due process under the law by concealing offers of favorable treatment to multiple prosecution witnesses and through the CCSO's improper and offensive investigation.
Hash was 15 at the time Scroggins was shot four times in the head in her Lignum home, and 19 when a jury handed him a life sentence for the crime based on evidence presented at trial. No physical evidence tied Hash to the crime, and he had no previous criminal record expect for a vandalism charge of a vacant house as a juvenile, a charge that was ultimately dismissed. He maintained his innocence in the Scroggins' murder.
Jenkins was assigned lead investigator in the Scroggins murder when the cold case was reopened in 2000 under the new administration of Sheriff Hart. It was the first time Jenkins led a murder investigation, although he collected evidence, including fingerprints and blood samples, from Scroggins' home as part of the inital investigation.
Mack assisted Jenkins in the reopened murder case. Mack had never participated in a major homicide investigation when Hart assigned him to assist Jenkins.
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