The Justice Digest - Issue VIII
Arlington County VA Government sent this bulletin at 04/08/2022 04:52 PM EDT |
The Justice Digest
Issue VIII - April 2022
A Message from
Commonwealth's Attorney
Parisa Dehghani-Tafti
Dear Friends,
As Women’s History Month came to a close, a historical event for women in general and Black women in particular in our country’s legal system took place. On February 25th, President Biden nominated Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to become the 116th Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court to replace Justice Breyer. She was confirmed on April 7, 2022, and will be the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court. With outstanding credentials and intellect, Justice Jackson is not only the inheritor of a proud tradition of brilliant Black women, as exemplified by Judge Constance Baker Motley, but also, as Senator Cory Booker so eloquently put it, will serve as a north star for generations to come. Pauli Murray, who rightly insisted that equality for Black women would lead to equality for all, once wrote, “When my brothers try to draw a circle to exclude me, I shall draw a larger circle to include them.” Justice Jackson’s confirmation to the Supreme Court is what it means to draw a larger circle to include all of us. My team and I would like to congratulate Justice Jackson on this spectacular achievement.
Looking to our local community’s criminal legal system, our office remains committed to our core value of fair and equal treatment for all. In February, we announced that our office signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Restorative Arlington, creating Arlington County’s first restorative justice juvenile diversion program “Heart of Safety”. I am excited to continue this work with Restorative Arlington which will promote safety and healing for individuals, as well as our community at large.
Kind regards,
Parisa Dehghani-Tafti
Special Feature - OCA's SVU Team
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, so it’s fitting to highlight our office's Special Victim’s Unit team. This team focuses on the prosecution of sex crimes committed against adults and children. Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorneys Paula Trahos and Nassir Aboreden are assigned to the SVU team in the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney. The SVU team works with the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney Victim Witness Team to provide support to the victims of these crimes. When a case is referred to the unit, a member of the Victim Witness team is assigned to facilitate services and communication between the victim, their family, and the prosecutor. This partnership between the SVU and Victim Witness Team is essential in ensuring that victims receive the attention and support that they deserve during the pendency of the prosecution.
“I find this work to be extremely meaningful,” says Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Paula Trahos. “We aggressively pursue these cases with the goal of protecting vulnerable victims and the community at large. These cases present unique challenges that require dedicated time, effort, and attention.”
“Investigating and prosecuting these cases requires a significant team effort. In doing this work, it is evident that our relationship with law enforcement and the Victim Witness team is essential to a successful prosecution,” says Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Nassir Aboreden. In the last few years, the SVU team has secured convictions on numerous sex crimes including but not limited to rape, sodomy, aggravated sexual battery, possession of child pornography, and stalking.
Case Highlights
CW v. Roscoe Shaw - On March 11th, an Arlington County jury found Roscoe Shaw guilty on one count of concealment of a dead body in connection to police discovery of a dead body on May 8th, 2020, within Mr. Shaw’s apartment. The deceased found was Mr. Shaw's partner. Concealment of a dead body, § 18.2-323.02, is a Class 6 felony in Virginia and carries a statutory minimum sentence of one to five years imprisonment. Mr. Shaw is scheduled to be sentenced on May 20th.
CW v. Alijah Hall - On March 18th, Alijah Hall was sentenced in Arlington County Circuit Court after pleading guilty to a December 2020 offense. Mr. Hall entered the victim’s home through a window and attempted to rape her. Days after this incident, ACPD’s thorough investigative work resulted in identifying Mr. Hall as a suspect. For the charge of attempted rape, Mr. Hall was sentenced to five years imprisonment. For the charge of breaking and entering with the intent to rape, Mr. Hall was sentenced to serve 10 years imprisonment with five suspended.
Mental Health Case Spotlight - In a case involving two individuals, one of whom was suffering a mental health crisis, a fight ensued when a good Samaritan, an off-duty Army officer, intervened. While working up the case, it became clear that the individual was dealing with significant mental health concerns and possible addiction. When the good Samaritan officer learned that our office wanted to focus on those difficulties, he reached out to our Victim Witness team to express his support. He explained that while he traditionally would have sought a punitive response, he was moved to support the office’s approach of prioritizing mental health. The good Samaritan officer analogized this effort to “Officer Friendly”. He added that mental health concerns were at the root of many of the tough situations he witnessed with his own soldiers. In the end, the parties worked toward an agreement that provides supervised probation and accompanying conditions intended to address the root causes of the incident that occurred. Special thank you to Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Abhi Mehta and Program Assistant Vanessa Rodriguez for their great teamwork on this effort!
Employee Spotlight
What is your education background?
- I started out in community college in Hampton, VA and ultimately graduated with my Bachelor’s in Secondary Education and Social Studies from Millersville University of Pennsylvania. For law school, I attended George Washington University Law School.
What inspired you to study and work in law?
- It was a combination of things. Initially, I hadn’t planned to go to college after high school. My then-girlfriend, now-wife, gave me a not-so-gentle nudge by telling me that the person she ended marrying was going to be someone who went to college. The first person who told me I should be a lawyer was one of my high school teachers. We had to give an oral report where we had to teach the class “how to” do something. I looked around the class at the other students who had props and other things for their oral reports, and I realized that I wasn’t exactly prepared. I presented on “How to Wing an Oral Report.” It went well and my teacher stopped me after class and asked me if I ever thought about being a lawyer. I later had a professor my senior year of undergrad who I totally admired. He was a lawyer and I really looked up to him, so he was definitely an inspiration for me early on. He taught with the Socratic Method similar to law school, and I really loved that. After college, I was interviewing for a teaching job in New York City. A friend of a friend let me sleep on her apartment floor while I was interviewing, and her roommate, suggested I should come interview at her law firm. So, I did. I had no idea at the time, but this was one of the most powerful firms in the world. I’m very grateful for my time at that firm. It taught me two things: One, that good lawyers are usually the ones who outwork everyone else, and two, that I had no passion for corporate or big-firm law. I worked there for two years then started law school a year after 9/11.
Describe your past role here at the OCA.
- When Parisa asked me to join her team, I knew I wanted to be involved with the J&DR court. She gave me an opportunity to lead that team as deputy, so I was in charge of the JDR team. It is incredibly difficult work, but I really love the people I worked with on that team. We were a small team, and I was incredibly lucky to be surrounded by such outstanding people who also happen to be phenomenal lawyers. And the reality is that they tended to manage me much more than the other way around.
Congratulations on being appointed to the bench as a JDR judge! Tell me about what your new role will entail. What are you most looking forward to in your new role?
- Thank you! I officially start on April 18th where I’ll be a judge on the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court here in Arlington. I’ll be handing both civil and criminal cases involving kids and families. Things like custody and visitation, protective orders, child support, abuse and neglect, etc. I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to have a daily impact on people’s lives in this role. I have felt for a long time that this is the most important court we have, because of the kinds of cases. It can be heavy stuff and heartbreaking at times, but I’m grateful to have a chance to serve the community in this position, and to be the one trusted to make a lot of hard decisions.
When you’re not working, what can you be found doing?
- Our kids are super adventurous and active, so I spend my free time nurturing their adventurous spirits. We do a lot of rock climbing, hiking, and playing soccer. I competed on the television show American Ninja Warrior for several years, so the kids have been surrounded by a lot of adults and teens who love to jump, climb and swing, as much as they do (click here to read more about American Ninja Warrior). They think the world is their playground. I used to dance in the nutcracker every year, and I also coach youth wrestling, so I stay busy. My wife and I still love to dance. We’re pretty good swing/lindy dancers.
What are you going to miss the most about working at the OCA?
- I’m definitely going to miss the relationships with the people there the most. There are some truly great people there who really care about the work they’re doing. I’ll also miss being a voice for people who need a voice. That’s what I’ve loved most about being a lawyer no matter where I was working throughout my career. I enjoyed being able to stand up for someone who has no one to stand up for them. It always felt like a calling for me. Many of law school classmates were scratching for that next prestigious high-paying job, but there were more important things to me than making a ton of money. And that gave me peace to follow the legal path I took. I’ve always been able to practice meaningful gratitude in my work – whether it was my job at McDonald’s as a teenager or my work in law – and that perspective has really shaped the attitude I have brought into my career.
As a member of the Northern Virginia Black Attorney’s Association, Parisa supported the NOVABAA by attending the Fairfax Bar Association’s Bench Bar Dinner on March 5th (pictured here).
Parisa met with the Maywood Civic Association on March 23rd. Click here to watch the recording! If you’d like Parisa to speak with your civic association, please email us at cwa_info@arlingtonva.us. Parisa’s hope is that these meetings will be a re-imagined ‘fireside chat’ among friends that is casual, conversational, and engaging about the work done by our office and criminal justice issues at large.
Parisa met with the OCA’s Community Advisory Board on March 30th. If you’d like learn more about the CAB, click here!
Last month, Parisa presented the OCA’s FY22 Budget Presentation to the Arlington County Board. Click here to watch the recording where Parisa speaks from 1:23:36 to 1:41:57.
ICYMI: Parisa participated in the “Ending State-Sanctioned Killings: Prosecutors and the Death Penalty” seminar with the American Constitution Society and Fair and Just Prosecution on February 25th
Recommended Reading & Viewing
Racially Charged: America's Misdemeanor Problem
(2020) Film by Robert Greenwald
“Women Who Shaped History: Constance Baker Motley Taught the Nation How to Win Justice”
by Tomiko Brown-Nagin
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