More Information Regarding Recent Mailing

For even more information on the cases outlined below, go to http://wasdmz1.courts.state.va.us/CJISWeb/circuit.html and enter the last name of the defendant after selecting Louisa County Circuit Court from the pull down menu. Additional court information can also be found at http://epwsgdp1.courts.state.va.us/gdcourts/caseSearch.do?index=index

Again, select Louisa County combined courts and enter the last name of the defendant.

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Commonwealth v. Durrette

In 2002, C .J. Durette was arrested in Louisa for raping a child. The Virginia criminal code mandates the sentence for a case like this be no less than 5 years, and as long as life in prison. Don Short secured a sentence of only one year.

After serving that year, Durette was arrested for failure to register as a sex offender. Don Short refused to prosecute the case.

Later, Durette was arrested for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. According to Virginia law, this charge should have carried a mandatory sentence of five years. Again, Don Short chose not to prosecute.

Finally, just this year, Mr. Durette was arrested and tried and convicted for raping another child. Had the original sentence for Durette been what was prescribed by the code, or the gun charge prosecuted, the second child would never have become a victim.

It’s time to make a change -- it’s time to protect our children.

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Commonwealth v. Paulsen

In 2004, a seemingly harmless grandfather known as “Grandpa Howard” sexually exploited his three grandchildren. Charges resulting from this disgusting violation of trust could have resulted in up to 210 years behind bars.

In a recent letter to the editor in the Central Virginian Mr. Short’s office claimed that “sometimes there just wasn’t enough evidence in cases of child sexual exploitation.” Sometimes, this may be true, in Grandpa Howard’s case it is not.

Not only did Grandpa Howard sexually exploit his three young grandchildren, he videotaped that exploitation. The children would have never needed to take the stand. The video alone demonstrated the crime.

Despite the powerful video taped evidence available for trial, Don Short dropped five of the nine original charges, and entered a plea deal with the defendant that resulted in less than three years served in prison.

As a result of this lax attitude toward child predators, Grandpa Howard is out of prison at this moment.

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Commonwealth v. Marcello
Commonwealth v. Rooker

Beginning in 2006, two men from northern Virginia contacted and solicited sex from two middle-school aged Louisa girls. When they completed their act, each could have been charged with multiple felonies including indecent liberties and carnal knowledge.

Don Short didn’t even charge on indecent liberties. While Short did charge them with carnal knowledge, he eventually dropped the charge in a plea deal.

In that plea deal, Short dropped all of felony charges, and agreed on a misdemeanor charge of Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor. The offenders who originally faced up to ten years in jail, agreed to serve 50 hours of community service in exchange for no active jail time, and no inclusion on the sex offender registry.

In a recent debate, Mr. Short asserted that the public was protected because the offenders were on the sex offender registry. He later admitted in The Central Virginian that he had not placed them on the registry.

As a result of Don Short’s lax attitude towards these reprehensible offenses, not only have these child predators never served a day in jail, they are free to prey upon more children without any way of their knowing about their dangerous history.