Bill would reform Virginia sentencing law, help defendants -- and lead to more trials
Robert K. Via Jr. rejected a plea deal in 2011 that would have given him 15 years to serve for an armed home invasion in Hampton.
Though his co-defendants agreed to similar deals, Via went for broke: He took his case to a jury trial.
It didn’t go well for the Poquoson man. A Hampton Circuit Court jury of 12 found him guilty on all counts. He got 128 years and a day to serve, the minimum he faced for a crime in which no one was injured.
The jury foreman wrote to Judge Christopher W. Hutton and urged him to suspend some of that time -- something the jury did not have the power to do. The foreman said jurors gave Via as low a sentence as was possible.
