PORTSMOUTH, Va. — Attorneys for State Senator Louise Lucas filed new city paperwork at Portsmouth Court, asking for her charges to be dismissed.
Lucas faces two felony charges over the protest at the Portsmouth Confederate monument in June. Court documents say her attorneys want to see those charges dropped.
Paperwork filed in Portsmouth General District Court said the “two felony warrants should never have been issued and should now be quashed.”
The motion filed said that according to state law, a criminal investigation of an elected official can’t happen unless requested by the governor, attorney general, or a grand jury. It goes on to say the Portsmouth Police Department took action without permission or approval from Virginia State Police, the Portsmouth Commonwealth’s Attorney, the Governor, or the Virginia Attorney General.
The document does on to say, “permitting any rogue local law enforcement agency to investigate an elected official without oversight would create a system whereby localities could attempt to intimidate and influence state officials at will.”
13News Now reached out to Lucas’s attorneys for comment but have not yet heard back.