PORTSMOUTH, Va. — All charges are now dismissed Tuesday morning against a former Portsmouth daycare owner who was indicted after an April 2022 townhome fire left at least seven children hurt.
Dewanna Seward, 32, was arrested in August 2022 after the April townhome fire.
In court, prosecutors said Seward left for several minutes to fill up a van with gas, when the fire started on the kitchen stove.
13News Now also found out Seward did not properly operate her daycare with a license.
Authorities with the Virginia Department of Education maintained Seward never received a license from the department, per email correspondence on Wednesday. That said, Seward's indictment stemmed from the day of the fire.
Portsmouth Circuit Court Judge Brenda Spry made her ruling on the case during Tuesday hearing. She considered a motion to dismiss the case, after a defense attorney claimed city prosecutors mishandled the case during a hearing last Thursday.
Agreeing that prosecutors didn't follow discovery rules, Spry decided to dismiss with prejudice. 13News Now legal analyst Ed Booth explained what that ruling means.
“It’s sort of go/no-go evolution in the case. When a judge says that this case is dismissed with prejudice, that is the end of the case,” Booth said. “It will not be decided on its merits at any point in the future and the charges will not come back.”
On Tuesday morning, Spry emphasized this was an “extremely emotional case," sharing she has lost sleep thinking about it. However, she said prosecutors had an incomplete and uncertified witness list.
Last week, Seward’s attorney, Michael Massie, argued the Portsmouth Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office acted with a lack of due diligence and care surrounding the case.
Massie repeatedly told a judge Thursday he never received a witness list. The prosecuting attorney said she did provide the defense a list but admitted the way it was written wasn't in compliance. Massie also argued that the Commonwealth sent him thousands of pages of medical records in relation to this case on Monday, just days before the trial.
Spry also referred to four or five cases this month in her court, where she claimed the attorney for the Commonwealth didn't timely or accurately comply with rules of discovery. On Tuesday, another member of the Portsmouth Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office argued for the case, saying there was no bad faith and the prosecution complied with the spirit of the discovery law.
In response to Massie’s statement about not receiving a witness list, the Commonwealth’s attorney argued the defense could have referred to names and information already available in discovery.
In response to comments made by the prosecutor, Spry said she believes that while Portsmouth Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office doesn't act maliciously or with ill intent, rules are not suggestions.
Booth, who is also a former Commonwealth’s attorney, touched on discovery rules, saying they are important in both civil and criminal cases. “And they’re particularly important for the Commonwealth’s attorney. Commonwealth’s attorneys have an obligation not just to seek convictions, but justice. And there are additional ethical duties for a prosecutor.”
Toward the end of Spry’s statements on Tuesday, she said she “hates” the facts, history and situation surrounding the case and then revealed her ruling of dismissal with prejudice.
After the hearing, reporters stopped some of the families involved on the way out of court, but they declined to comment.
Massie briefly spoke with reporters outside the courtroom before heading to another case. Though this was the ruling he advocated for, he became emotional and began to cry, calling what happened in the courtroom “overwhelming because of the children.”
Massie acknowledged it was difficult for the court and a “terrible result for the families.” He said he hopes there’s a renewed emphasis on responsibility among prosecutors.
He added that his client, Seward, has been waiting for this nightmare to end and that she can now go on with her life.
13News Now has reached out to the Portsmouth Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office for comment but didn't get an immediate response by the time this article was published.