Jason Scott Ford v. Commonwealth of Virginia

City of Richmond, Virginia, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with malicious wounding.



A grand jury indicted Ford for aggravated malicious wounding. During a pretrial hearing, Ford "refused to come out of the lockup and began banging his feet on the walls." Due to security concerns related to his behavior, on the morning of trial sheriff's deputies restrained Ford with waist chains and a shock vest while he was in a holding cell. When deputies were not looking, Ford removed the waist restraint and inserted bits of cardboard from a toilet paper roll between the shock vest's probes and his skin.



The trial court stated that Ford had previously injured a deputy sheriff while in the same courthouse to attend a hearing; during an earlier hearing, the trial court also noted on the record that Ford had needed to be pepper-sprayed because of his disruptive courtroom behavior.[1]Having learned that Ford had disabled the restraint that the deputies had employed, and considering Ford's history of disruptive behavior, the trial court ordered that Ford be restrained during the trial, with his hands attached to his waist. So long as he stayed seated, the jury would not see the restraints, and the trial court instructed Ford to avoid standing in the jury's presence to avoid any prejudice. During trial, the trial court ensured that Ford was seated before the jury reentered the courtroom after breaks.

The jury convicted Ford of malicious wounding. The trial court sentenced Ford to 20 years' incarceration with 10 years suspended.