Authorities are looking for a prisoner who escaped from a courtroom Thursday afternoon in King George County.
Virginia State Police said Ritchie Faltz. Jr. was sentenced Thursday to serve 90 days for misdemeanor destruction of property.
When Faltz heard his sentence, he assaulted a law enforcement officer, ran from the building and was last seen heading into some nearby woods, authorities said.
Faltz, who is from King George County, has family and friends in the Dahlgren and Fredericksburg areas.
He is described as white, 6 feet 1 inch tall and weighing about 170 pounds. He has brown hair and brown eyes.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 840-553-3445 or 540-775-2049.
Authorities are looking for a prisoner who escaped from a courtroom Thursday afternoon in King George County.Richmond Times-Dispatch’s story and The Free Lance–Star’s story.
And now the obligatory clip from Next Friday (content/language warning):
Instead of making fun of this citizen, we should ask the fundamental questions of journalism; the five w’s and h.
Who is this man?
What “property” did he supposedly destroy?
When did it happen and were there any witnesses?
Where did it occur?
Why did he run?
How was the damage committed?
Also:
Did Mr. Faltz have competent counsel? Did he understand that his escape multiplies his sentence many times over?
It seems that every day citizens appear in our courts with incompetent, or without legal counsel at all, simply because they are too poor to hire an attorney or they don’t understand, when they are unable to hire one, how important a court appointed attorney is for their defense .
Now this young man is on a downward spiral and may even end up being murdered by police. Oh, they will say he resisted arrest, but we have heard that line before. The cops will have their revenge by either beating him when they find him, or killing him.
If Faltz can get good advice from someone, he will surrender with an attorney at a very public daylight location, then seek trial on the new charges in a different jurisdiction.
J.,
If you had bothered to read The Free Lance–Star‘s story you would know the circumstances of the original charges. He ran because a) he’s getting some time in jail; and b) he’s a moron (hence the post title).
Uh, did you expect him to contact his attorney before he proceeded to commit a couple felonies?
If he had, his attorney would have told him not to, and probably alerted the authorities to his “plan”.
If you knew anything about court-appointed attorneys, you would know that there is one available if the defendant wishes to have one. If the defendant is found guilty, he is required to pay the cost for the attorney; if he is found innocent, the state foots the bill.
If you are so concerned about a defendant’s consulship; why don’t you become an attorney and “fight the good fight”?
And how exactly would he manage to have charges in a different jurisdiction? Another jurisdiction wouldn’t have the jurisdiction to hear offenses that happened in another county (d’uh).