Virginia
January 18, 2025 – Virginia Attorney General Miyares Condemns President Biden’s Last Minute Clemency for Cop Killer and Accomplice
Commonwealth of Virginia
Office of the Attorney General
Jason S. Miyares
Attorney General
202 North 9th Street
Richmond, Virginia 23219
804-786-2071
FAX 804-786-1991
Virginia Relay Service
800-828-1120
For media inquiries only, contact:
Shaun Kenney
Virginia Attorney General Miyares Condemns President Biden’s Last Minute Clemency for Cop Killer and Accomplice
RICHMOND, VA – Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares today issued the following statement after President Joe Biden announced clemency for Ferrone Claiborne and Terence Richardson – the “Waverly Two” whose criminal acts caused the death of Officer Allen Gibson in 1998.
“I am absolutely outraged by what has happened. My heart is shattered knowing that the men that killed my father are going to be released from prison and can walk the streets freely,” stated Officer Gibson’s daughter, Crissana Gibson. “This is a huge miscarriage of justice, and I am completely disgusted by the outgoing administration. The Virginia Attorney General’s office has worked tirelessly to keep these murderers behind bars, and I am forever grateful for their dedication and hard work. I am so disappointed that the disgraceful Biden administration has failed my family, my father, and the entire law enforcement community. Neither my family nor I have ever supported the release of Richardson or Claiborne, and we denounce this decision by the outgoing failed presidency of Joe Biden and the Democratic Party’s abuse of the justice system.”
“If the Democrats intend to build their vision of social justice on a pile of dead law enforcement officers, they could send no stronger message than the one they sent today,” said Attorney General Jason Miyares. “The decision not to pardon but merely commute the sentence of Terence Richardson only supports our position that he is in fact guilty of manslaughter. This office will continue to exhaust itself in seeking justice for the family of Officer Allen Gibson and ensuring that those involved are held to account.”
On April 25, 1998, 25-year-old Officer Allen Gibson woke up and went to work as a Waverly police officer. He put on his bulletproof vest and said goodbye to his eight-year-old daughter Crissana. Officer Gibson found Terence Richardson and Ferrone Claiborne engaged in a drug deal behind an apartment building. The men attacked Officer Gibson, and Richardson disarmed Officer Gibson and fatally shot him in the stomach right below his bulletproof vest.
Terence Richardson pleaded guilty in Virginia court to involuntary manslaughter, and Ferrone Claiborne pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact. A federal appeals court held in 2002 that Richardson “intentionally shot Gibson,” and that the facts “amply support the finding” that Richardson and Claiborne “murdered Gibson.”
Not only did President Obama deny clemency to Ferrone Claiborne and Terence Richardson, but the Biden White House was recently advised by the U.S. Attorney General not to commute the sentences of certain violent offenders.
“Yesterday, Joe Biden woke up and decided that these two violent criminals deserve clemency,” said Miyares. “Joe Biden should be ashamed, but we know that he probably doesn’t even know what he signed. Biden and his staff deserve scorn, shame, and derision for this despicable act. Shame on you, Joe Biden and your enabling staff.
“May the memory of Officer Allen Gibson and his family haunt each of you forever.”
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Democrats are celebrating after Virginia approved a redistricting plan that could help their party net up to four additional congressional seats in the race for control of the House. But it was a close call, thanks to lackluster turnout in Democratic areas and a rightward shift across much of the state, an NBC News Decision Desk analysis of precinct data shows.
Virginia
Chemical leak at a West Virginia plant kills 2 people and sends 19 to hospital, officials say
INSTITUTE, W.Va. — A chemical leak at a West Virginia silver recovery business on Wednesday killed two people and sent 19 others to the hospital, including one in critical condition, authorities said.
The leak occurred at the Catalyst Refiners plant in Institute as workers were preparing to shut down at least part of the facility, Kanawha County Commission Emergency Management Director C.W. Sigman said.
A chemical gas reaction occurred at the plant involving nitric acid and another substance, Sigman said at a news briefing. He added that there was “a violent reaction of the chemicals and it instantaneously overreacted.”
“Starting or ending a chemical reaction are the most dangerous times,” Sigman said.
The chemical reaction that was believed to have occurred during a cleaning process produced toxic hydrogen sulfide, Kanawha County Commission President Ben Salango said.
Among the injured were seven ambulance workers responding to the leak, officials said.
Other people were taken to the hospitals in private cars or even in one case a garbage truck, Sigman said.
One person was in critical condition, Salango said.
Vandalia Health Charleston Area Medical Center, one of several hospitals in the area, was treating multiple patients, some brought by ambulance, while members of the community were arriving Wednesday afternoon asking to be checked, hospital spokesman Dale Witte said.
Witte said patients were experiencing respiratory symptoms including cough, shortness of breath, sore throat and itchy eyes. They were being evaluated in the emergency room.
WVU Medicine Thomas Memorial Hospital in South Charleston said in a statement it has cared for a dozen patients, including eight who arrived by personal vehicle and were not at the scene but were in the area at the time. It said those injuries were not considered life-threatening.
A shelter-in-place order was issued for the surrounding area and lifted more than five hours later. Officials said all the deaths occurred on the plant site.
“You had to get really close to the facility to smell it,” Sigman said.
The leak required a large-scale decontamination operation in which people had to remove their clothes and be sprayed down, authorities said.
Catalyst Refiners works to remove silver from what remains of chemical processes and can find thousands of dollars of the precious metal just by vacuuming the floors in a plant’s offices, Sigman said.
Ames Goldsmith Corp., the owner of Catalyst Refiners, said it is saddened by the deaths and its thoughts were with all those affected and their families.
“This is an unfathomably difficult time,” company President Frank Barber said in a statement released at the briefing. “Our thoughts and prayers are with our colleagues and their families.”
Ames Goldsmith promised to work with local, state and federal officials as they investigate the leak. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has opened an investigation into what happened, a spokesperson said, adding that the agency has six months to complete its examination.
Silver is in a number of items ranging from circuit boards and other electronics, photographic and X-Ray films and jewelry. Nitric acid is used to dissolve materials, leaving behind silver nitrate that can be processed to recover pure silver. Recovery businesses can also crush or sandblast items with silver and use magnets or differences in density to sort out the precious metal.
Sigman said Ames Goldsmith recovers silver from the various plants at the Institute complex “and they’ll use it again. When they vacuum their carpets in their office, they recover so many thousands of dollars’ worth of silver out of it just vacuuming their carpets.”
The plant is located near Institute, a community about 10 miles west of Charleston, the state capital. The plant is in a region known as West Virginia’s “chemical valley,” although many plants that lined the area along the Kanawha River and produced hazardous materials have closed or changed ownership in the past several decades.
Raby writes for the Associated Press. Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, S.C., and Gary Robertson in Raleigh, N.C., contributed to this report.
DALEVILLE, Va. (WSET) — Heads up, Virginia Iconicks! Nick Jonas is having a show in Danville in June!
The superstar is set to perform on June 11 at Caesars Virginia’s venue, The Pantheon.
SEE ALSO: Danville sees unusually high voter turnout for redistricting referendum, registrar says
He announced the concert in an Instagram post, revealing a six-stop tour spanning up and down the East Coast.
“Six nights with you this June!” Jonas said in the post. “I’ve been wanting to do a run like this for a while. Something that feels a little closer, playing through different releases from over the years. A few of my favorites, a lot of your favorites and sharing the stories behind them as we go.”
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You can reserve tickets on April 23.
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