Last September, on a Sunday during church hours, a Penske rental truck rolled up Secretairy Road past No Trespassing signs and entered the property of Former County Supervisor Granville Hogg. The truck did this not once, but twice. According to Mr. Hogg, other thefts, burglaries, and B&R have occurred at this location. Mr. Hogg, unable to determine the identity of the driver, engaged him with a handgun–which is within a citizen’s right to detain a suspect until authorities are present.
At the time, Hogg was charged with a misdemeanor, however, since the case was in Northampton, the Accomac District Attorney was appointed as special prosecutor.
At this point, things took a turn onto Crazy Highway.
After reviewing the case, the prosecution decided to raise the stakes and charge Hogg with a felony. The facts of the case have not changed, so this move is curious.
The court date is May 21st at 12:00, Northampton Circuit Court.
charged with a felony for protecting his property?!?!
The Swamp run’s deep…
Bad people in Eastville are against G F…..that’s why this is being pushed….because G F stood up for what is right and everyone who knows what’s going on in Eastville knows what I’m talking about.
It’s a crying shame that it’s come to something this silly.
You jackasses running our County must be mighty proud of yourselves.
I don’t know Mr. Hogg. I was not a witness to the events of the day in question. I only know that he is entangled in quite a bit of a situation here. This article here is certainly put forth as an opinion piece. Not factual news. Crazy highway ? Who is crazy ? Mr. Hogg ? FedEx ? Morgan ?
Cameras are everywhere these days in our phones. The original articles months ago said Mr. Hogg was brandishing a firearm. This article says he engaged these deliverymen. There is certainly a difference. Which was it ? Does it matter ? It does if there’s a picture. These deliverymen say they have photos of this confrontation. They say they produced paperwork and employment proof. This article says Mr. Hogg could not identify them. Which statement is factual ? Any deliveryman who can’t find a location or proper person to receive/sign for a pkg. will circle around and return. Is that what these men did ? Mr. Hogg states they trespassed more than once. Did he see them take anything ? I don’t think criminals fail at access, and then return. In broad daylight ? Don’t they just break in ? “A citizens right to detain a suspect” is not an allowance to hold just anyone hostage. I have yet to see a statement that any suspicious criminal activity was witnessed. My guess is that stating “multiple prior burglaries” will have no relevance in this matter. Federal Motor Carrier Regulations will play a major roll, and they are Federal regulations. The truck does not identify the people driving it, or their reason for being there. Their employee i.d’s, their actions, and their paperwork does. Federal Motor Carrier Couriers are not looked upon as the avg. citizen. It’s more like holding a U.P.S. employee, a fireman, a mass transit bus driver, or a post office employee against their will. Do all of our U.S.P.S. postal delivery people here on the shore wear uniforms, drive easily identifiable U.S.P.S. vehicles ? If their i.d’s and paperwork were presented to the responding deputy, and offered to Mr. Hogg prior to that, well then I’m glad I am not him.
Trespassing refers to people who have no business there. Private roads allow access to people who do have business there, and therefore a no trespassing sign does not apply if they were trying to deliver a pkg. A package for delivery is a call for FedEx to appear, and gives them legal permission. We are all on trial here. We have a lot of private roads. Do we want people to stand out front and forbid delivery of pkgs. because it is a private road ? If you do, your neighbor closer to the county road better not have a beef w/you cause you won’t get anything from Amazon any more.
My guess is that FedEx is pressing this issue and they have pressed that the facts and federal regulations make this a felony. They aren’t messing around. They have a lot of pkgs. to deliver all around this country, and they intend to do it. Their stock holders insist they do it if they want to keep their jobs. That delivery response also affects the attitude of the lawyers that represent the FedEx employees. These legal issues will be delivered, and pressed to the max, efficiently.
I certainly hope this doesn’t take a bad turn for Granville Hogg, our friend, within his rights. Why would the delivery company not just leave and issue the package as undeliverable. Why does it always have to be proving a point? Any point?
Sounds like the DA is a Liberal, Democrat.
Like him or hate him , Grandville Hogg has been a great public servant for many years. It is disturbing to me that anyone would challenge a persons right to deny access to his property to strangers. And when they were persistent a second time the right to detain them by deadly force seems justified. I reject the notion that robbers only work at night and that they may not come back a second time wile using a decoy vehicle like a FedEx truck. I do wonder why the change of venue to Accomac County. This is a local matter and should be handled locally.
The elevation of this situation to the felony level is truly absurd!
Level heads need to resolve it via face to face discussion.
With equal treatment and due process working so very well in our criminal justice system, Mr Hogg has nothing to worry about.
THAT equal treatment under the law is what I have been overly cautious about mentioning. I suspect I am hearing sarcasm here from Mr. Metheny, and I truly understand why. In all too many situations there is no such thing as equal or fair. I firmly believe and truly hope that Mr. Hogg will be heard and this will properly work out w/o him being seriously harmed by this. It’s just that this is a sticky situation. Too often the laws, and the way the sentences are dictated by predetermined and pre-written summations of the rules of law, and pre-determined sentences, sometimes just are truly unfair.
Be surprised I say that, or don’t believe me. It doesn’t matter to me. Many of us remember a horrible situation here on The Eastern Shore probably almost 20 years ago . An off duty State Trooper was hit and killed by a drunk driver. The Trooper’s son was also killed. 2 murders by auto. The man who killed them was a repeat offender. Drunk driver. Drug of choice ? Alcohol. Sentence ? 110 years plus 1, and 90 years suspended. Had to serve 85% of that 10 years plus 1 for a double homicide.
Then there’s the case of a gal whose drug of choice was cocaine. Repeat offender. No sales of it. Stole checks w/o a gun or knife. Never confronted anyone. Never any violence. Used the checks to buy stuff in stores and then return the stuff for cash to buy cocaine. The stores, banks and checks were all insured and all recovered their $. Truly the gal deserved to go to jail. But how could she possibly deserve the exact same sentence as a man who killed 2 people ? That’s what she got. All I’m saying is don’t depend on the law to be fair or have a heart. The sentencing process is a mess.
Is he going to get a jury trial?
It sounds like the DA might have some kind of political vendetta or axe to grind with Mr. Hogg.
And yes, they do do that.
The complainants on the brandishing charges are the two drivers.
The complainant on the abduction charge is a Trooper.
Hogg has two trespass complaints against the drivers being heard at the same time today.
The Northampton prosecutor can’t prosecute both cases at the same time.
So you have Accomack DA coming down to prosecute Hogg. (brandishing + abduction)
And the Northampton DA is prosecuting the drivers. (trespass)
IMO, the trespassing charges against the drivers will need to be resolved first but INAL.
Well, it’s 5/22. Can someone update us all on The Hogg trial ? Did it all take place, and do we have results ?
All that is out there appears to be one brandishing charge. The courts.state.va site hasn’t updated as of Wed afternoon with anything new.
The two trespass charges were dropped. (against the drivers)
Abduction charge was dropped. (against Hogg)
One brandishing charge was dropped (against Hogg), but the 2nd one looks to be still unresolved. It’s not updated…all the other charges were “Finalized – Nolle Prosed”. The remaining single brandishing charge looks like it did earlier in the week with no updates.
That’s all I can see as of Wed afternoon.
Thanks for the update. My response to your info is “GOOD”. It sounds like the very normal pre trial meetings of attorneys and clients had calmer heads prevail, and both sides learned a lesson because anger never fixes a darn thing. and now for that that pending thing…….
“Anger helps nothing” is something that many have heard me say many times. So with regards to the Hogg trial I am glad to refer everyone to the Post today and what they have printed. Apparently both parties backed away a bit from the anger and intensity of this situation and hands were shook (figuratively) and agreements were made w/o making this situation harder on anyone. I, for one, and sure glad this came to be. Now if we could just get this crew to head to D.C. and get Dems and Pubs to work together for the mutual benefit of everyone.
So well said, Jack, that nothing more need be said, especially as to that last!
What is truly confusing about this case from a due process of law standpoint is the process itself by which Mr. Hogg became charged with a felony.
According to a legal website posted by Sheldon&Flood, PLC, entitled “Navigating the Virginia Criminal Justice System, from Arrest to Sentencing,” in the section “Arrest and Adjudication Procedure for Felonies in Virginia,” we have this as the legal process due Mr. Hogg by law in the Commonwealth of Virginia for him to be tried as an accused felon, to wit:
Felonies commence via warrant or indictment — there is no such thing as a summons in a felony case in Virginia.
Felony warrants are the same as in misdemeanor cases, in that they are issued by a judicial officer and must be supported by probable cause.
And just like in misdemeanor cases, if a felony begins with the issuance of a warrant, the adjudication of that case begins in a district court.
District courts may not conduct felony trials, however.
Rather, they only have jurisdiction to determine probable cause in felony cases.
For that reason the life span of a felony that commences with a warrant looks something like this: the person accused usually is arrested on a warrant and brought before a magistrate.
The magistrate may either commit the accused to jail pending a hearing or release the accused on bail.
A preliminary hearing is then held in district court to determine if there is probable cause to believe the accused has committed the crime charged.
If probable cause is found, the case is certified (sent) to the grand jury.
If the grand jury also finds probable cause, an indictment is returned.
An indictment is a formal written accusation, drafted by a prosecutor but found and presented by a Grand Jury, which charges that the subject committed a crime.
Indictments are only produced in Circuit Courts.
However, they need not arise out of the arrest warrant/preliminary hearing process described above.
Virginia also authorizes what is known as a “direct indictment”, which is an indictment that either was not preceded by any warrant or preliminary hearing, or was preceded by a warrant and a preliminary hearing in which a district court declined to find probable cause.
Direct indictments are relatively uncommon, and most often occur in serious felony cases, frequently with strategic considerations in mind, such as depriving the defendant of a preliminary hearing, which is only available in a district court following arrest on a felony warrant.
Following indictment, the accused is arraigned; that is, the charges are read and the accused enters a plea of guilty, not guilty, or nolo contendere (no contest).
In Virginia this usually occurs on the same day as a trial, unlike Federal courts, which arraign defendants well in advance of trial.
From there, a defendant may have a bench trial or a jury trial.
Felony juries in Virginia consist of 12 members of the community, all of whom must agree unanimously that the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in order to convict him.
end quotes
So, does anyone know where on that scorecard the Hogg felony matter really is?
Did it go to a grand jury?
The judge did not certify the felony charge against Mr. Hogg. It was Nolle processed.