VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The prosecutor in a central Virginia county who controversially dropped prostitution charges against a Virginia Beach pastor lost her re-election after serving one term.
Chesterfield County Commonwealth’s Attorney Stacey Davenport was defeated by her challenger Erin Barr 48-50%, according to the Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP). She was first elected in 2019.
Davenport's loss comes more than a year after her office set aside charges of solicitation of prostitution and use of a vehicle to solicit prostitution against John Blanchard, the senior pastor of Rock Church, in October 2022.
Chesterfield County police arrested Blanchard in October 2021 for allegedly trying to meet with a teenage girl who turned out to be an undercover detective. The detective posed as a 17-year-old online and communicated through a chat system with the megachurch pastor.
Blanchard was one of 17 people arrested in Chesterfield County police's operation. Most were fully prosecuted, but Blanchard and another suspect weren't.
Davenport faced an uproar of criticism when Blanchard's charges were set aside, a decision that came with little explanation. People from the community commented on social media, and Chesterfield Police Chief Jeffrey Katz and Virginia Republican Del. Tim Anderson both called the decision a poor move.
Barr, who worked as an assistant and deputy commonwealth's attorney in Chesterfield County from 2010 to 2020, also criticized Davenport's handling of the case.
"From what has been publicized, there is no reason this case could not have gone forward," Barr wrote in a statement on X (formerly known as Twitter) in January. Pointing out the other cases from the operation that moved forward, she continued: "The one case that Ms. Davenport personally became involved in did not."
Amid the scrutiny and new evidence found by Chesterfield County police, Davenport asked a judge to call for a special prosecutor to re-investigate the case. In February, a judge appointed Brunswick County Commonwealth's Attorney, Bill Blaine, to take over as special prosecutor.
In June, Blaine wrote in a letter to a judge that Blanchard would not be charged again, saying while there was a solid case, the pastor successfully adhered to an agreement to attend counseling in exchange for prosecutors dismissing the charges.
Barr also criticized Davenport's request for a special prosecutor, saying a commonwealth's attorney's job is to decide how criminal cases proceed.
"When there are complaints [about] those decisions, the solution is not for the Court to bring another prosecutor in to make those decisions for her," Barr wrote on X. "[T]he solution is for the community to speak through their votes."
In August, a judge agreed to expunge Blanchard's record, saying he "didn't have any other choice under the law" but to grant the request.
