Dear Editor,

It was very pleasing to read that Governor Kaine followed the advise of Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, the Republican candidate for Attorney General, to call a special session of the General Assembly for August.  The session is designed to deal with a recent change in the law caused by a United States Supreme Court ruling.  The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that certain forensic evidence was inadmissible if the lab tech, who preformed the work, was not available to testify at trial. 

Virginia, like several other states, does not require lab personnel to be present in court to testify about the results of their work.  Lab personnel are allowed instead to submit a written and certified affidavit in lieu of testifying in person.  This method allows the lab techs to stay in the lab doing more tests, instead of having them wait hours on top of hours to testify in court.  It is a very effective and efficient system.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruling, however, may invalidate Virginia’s method of introducing forensic evidence.  Sen. Cuccinelli realized the problems this ruling created for Virginia’s prosecutors almost immediately, and he called for a special session within days of the ruling being handed down.  He also made concrete proposals to rectify the situation.

Sen. Cuccinelli’s opponent, however, refused to support Sen. Cuccinelle’s call for a special session and his campaign said Cuccinells’s request was “a [public-relations] stunt that would cost taxpayers money.”  One month later, Cuccinelli’s opponent has joined the bipartition appeal asking the Governor to call this special session to find and implement solutions to this taxing issue.

Come November, I hope the people of Virginia remember Sen. Cuccinelli’s leadership on this issue.

Jason Moore
Powhatan