VA Attorney General office responds to evidence of former news reporter Brian Hill’s actual innocence

by Laurie Azgard

Last month Brian had filed the “letter to the chief of police” of Martinsville, VA on federal court record. I received an email with the Carilion Clinic medical records showing further evidence of Brian suffering under carbon monoxide gas back in 2018. So I had decided to report all of that to the Attorney General [AG] of Virginia, showing them the evidence of Brian’s actual innocence and requesting that they give him a writ of actual innocence. Brian had worked under USWGO alternative news before he was set up in 2012.

I read the letter and checked the tracking numbers and discovered that it was signed for on the date/time of “2:52 pm on August 7, 2019”. That means that the police chief of Martinsville Police had received the evidence and makes the evidence valid under the federal court system.

It is clear that Brian is legally innocent of his charge of indecent exposure and that the carbon monoxide makes him morally innocent under common law.

Here is the response from the office of AG:

Dear Ms. Azgard.
Our office is in receipt of your email regarding Commonwealth vs. Brian David Hill, CR19-0009-00.

For your awareness, the Office of the Attorney General functions as the law firm for state government and cannot, by statute, provide legal advice to private individuals. The Office advises state officials and represents the numerous state agencies and departments, as well as renders opinions at the request of officials so authorized to do so by the Code of Virginia. As such, we are unable to render private legal advice or otherwise assist citizens in legal matters or pending criminal or civil matters.

That being said, the appropriate office to submit the information that you have provided would be to the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney for the City of Martinsville, which is handling the prosecution of the case you listed in your email. Our office has forwarded a copy of your original correspondence and a copy of this response to the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney.

To the extent you are seeking a writ of actual innocence based upon non-biological evidence on behalf of Mr. Hill, the process for seeking such a writ is governed by Va. Code §§ 19.2-327.10 – 19.2-327.14. It is available to a person who was found guilty of a felony upon a plea of not guilty, or a person who was adjudicated delinquent, upon a plea of not guilty, by a circuit court of an offense that would be a felony if committed by an adult. A petition for a writ of actual innocence based upon non-biological evidence must be filed in the Court of Appeals of Virginia. You may request a copy of the application packet from the Court of Appeals of Virginia. The instructions and petition are available online at http://www.courts.state.va.us/courts/cav/forms/petition_for_writ_packet.pdf.

Sincerely,

Alphonso Simon, Jr.

Director of Actual Innocence and Capital Litigation

Office of the Attorney General

202 North 9th Street

Richmond, Virginia 23219

(804) 786-8192 Office

ASimonJr@oag.state.va.us http://www.ag.virginia.gov

—–Original Message—–
From: [REDACTED] [REDACTED]
Sent: Friday, August 09, 2019 7:46 PM
To: Fishel, Samuel; Schweiker, Richard; RRitenour@oag.state.va.us; Human_Rights; Martin, Anndelynn “Andi” T.
Subject: Actual innocence of Brian David Hill – Proof – Case NO. CR19-0009-00
Importance: High
Case NO. CR19-0009-00 – MARTINSVILLE CIRCUIT COURT
Mark R. Herring,
I have information that Brian David Hill is actually innocent of his charge in case no. CR19-0009-00, MARTINSVILLE CIRCUIT COURT. The following evidence shall be submitted to your office from what I had received from Brian’s family and things publicly filed on PACER/COURTLISTENER and you should consider filing a motion for the writ of actual innocence for him or request that the Commonwealth’s Attorney consider dismissing Brian’s case as per his legal innocence, his actual innocence.
I am a concerned person who wants to make sure that justice is served for an innocent man on the autism spectrum, many kids have autism spectrum disorder but that does not make them criminals and neither should they be treated as such. Even the Governor has recognized autism and the need to help those with ASD.
The evidence that proves the innocence of Brian are as follows:
1. Brian has exhibited carbon monoxide poisoning at the time of the alleged activity on September 21, 2018.
2. Brian has filed evidence with Martinsville Police and had filed a copy of such letter and attachments on federal court record.
3. Brian is legally innocent of his charge according to the obscenity requirement as mandated by case laws including one case in Richmond.
[1.]
Please save all documents and images locally in case of censorship by the blog host! https://justiceforuswgo.nl/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/carilion-clinic-medical-records-yellow-marked.pdf
https://justiceforuswgo.nl/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/high-red-blood-cell-count.jpg
Emailed to me from Brian’s mother [REDACTED]. I posted them on my blog but then his family wanted certain information taken off of my blog which I complied, but I still think you should see the medical document and red blood cell count image. All credit goes to [REDACTED] for the image and Carilion Clinic for the medical record.
Brian had abnormally high red blood cell count on July 31, 2018, which can be triggered by chronic exposure to carbon monoxide gas.
Carbon monoxide can cause hallucinations, abnormal behavior, psychosis, mental confusion, and impulsive behavior. It is a gas type substance that can impair the proper functioning of the brain and can lead to memory loss or even death. So for Brian to have behaved the way he had behaved, never exhibited such behaviors before, it would show that something was wrong with Brian on September 21, 2018. Brian wasn’t acting like a criminal, he was medically suffering from a chemical or substance or gas (known as the silent killer).
[2.]
Federal court records show that a letter was mailed to Police Chief G. E. Cassady, and USPS records show delivery to Chief Cassady a few days ago. Martinsville police appears to have those records and the federal court has a copy thereto.
https://tools.usps.com/go/TrackConfirmAction?tRef=fullpage&tLc=4&text28777=&tLabels=7017-2680-0000-5750-9122%2C9590-9402-3527-7275-7497-41%2C
Declaration on police chief letter – https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4304407/181/united-states-v-hill/
Exhibit 0 police letter – https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4304407/181/1/united-states-v-hill/
Exhibit 1 in attachment to police letter – https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4304407/181/2/united-states-v-hill/
Exhibit 2 in attachment to police letter – https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4304407/181/3/united-states-v-hill/
Exhibit 3 in attachment to police letter – https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4304407/181/4/united-states-v-hill/
Exhibit 4 in attachment to police letter – https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4304407/181/5/united-states-v-hill/
Exhibit 5 in attachment to police letter – https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4304407/181/6/united-states-v-hill/
Exhibit 6 in attachment to police letter – https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4304407/181/7/united-states-v-hill/
Exhibit 7 in attachment to police letter – https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4304407/181/8/united-states-v-hill/
Exhibit 8 in attachment to police letter – https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4304407/181/9/united-states-v-hill/
Exhibit 9 in attachment to police letter – https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4304407/181/10/united-states-v-hill/
Exhibit 10 in attachment to police letter – https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4304407/181/11/united-states-v-hill/
[3.]
According to his pro-se filings, Brian has proven that case law does exist that one cannot be legally guilty of indecent exposure unless they were being publicly obscene.
Read his pro-se filings here: https://archive.org/details/CommonwealthvHill
In all three cases the convictions were reversed when the conduct did not rise to being obscene, because “it does not rise to the level of obscenity required under Code § 18.2-387, as defined in Code § 18.2-372.”
1. Kimberly F. Neice v. Commonwealth of Virginia, Record No. 1477-09-3 in the Circuit Court of Giles County
2. A. M. v. Commonwealth of Virginia, Record No. 1150-12-4 in the Circuit Court of Shenandoah County
3. Kenneth Samuel Moses v. Commonwealth of Virginia, Record No. 0985-03-3 in the Circuit Court of Richmond
One factor is sexuality, Brian was not sexual and there doesn’t appear to be any evidence of that. His federal court filings report, over and over again that he never masturbated. He did report that his former counsel Scott Albrecht said that he could argue Brian’s technical legal innocence in his motion for substitute counsel. Because he was influenced by carbon monoxide poisoning, he was not being shameful and did not appear to be shameful either. When your high on a chemical, drug, or gas, you aren’t going to have the right mindset. You could be high enough on a drug or gas and run around naked without realizing how wrong it is. Brian acted as though he were high on a chemical, drug, or gas, and the police didn’t bother trying to find out what it was.
Also it should be noted that there is over 60 nude artworks inside the collection of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts [VMFA], showing the whole nude body including genitalia. It depicts naked angels of children-age, naked women, and naked men. Families and school groups goes to those places. Nobody calls the police on the Museum and charges the Museum with indecent exposure. That is because the nudity is completely legal and protected under the U.S. Supreme Court in regards to the “Obscenity requirement” and that the human body itself is protected under the First Amendment. “(Sunshine Book Co. v. Summerfield, Postmaster General, 355 U.S. 372). The right to depict adults and children in innocent nude poses has been upheld without a pause for 41 years. In case after case, the Supreme Court and lower courts have always upheld the constitutionality of “nudity without more,” specifically referring to the nudist depiction as a fully constitutional form of expression.” quoted from a [REDACTED] website while doing legal research. VMFA is state funded and operated by the Commonwealth, so they advocate art with nudity but not obscenity. That is why the indecent exposure statute is not strict liability because then it would place criminal liability on the Commonwealth of Virginia and place the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts on criminal liability and would make Virginia a corrupt and crime committing state with a corrupt government. Sorry no offense to VA. I have to argue this like it is, and this is what any lawyer worth their salt would argue before a court of appeals or trial court.
I recommend that you contact the State’s/County’s medical examiners to ask them about carbon monoxide gas exposure effects and if CO gas can cause somebody to act as crazy as running down a hiking trail butt naked at night and then making confusing statements to police when discovered. If they concur with that viewpoint, then that will likely be brought up at Brian’s jury trial as that is the type of trial that was mentioned on the Circuit court online website for his case.
Brian is morally innocent of indecent exposure and appears to be legally innocent of indecent exposure. There is no reason to waste judicial resources that could be going to drug offenses, violent crimes, and violent sex crimes. Tax paying citizens in Virginia would be disgusted by your waste of legal resources for a person who was victimized by an invisible gas. A man influenced by carbon monoxide, at one time, to walk on a hiking trail during the middle of the night is not a good reason for a criminal conviction. Brian hasn’t repeated such behavior as there is no new court records and no new arrest records which would even suggest that. Brian’s bond conditions has not been revoked, so it appears that he has complied with his curfew. It appears that Brian will never commit such an act again since it was CO gas poisoning which led to such madness.
Brian’s conviction in the General District Court should be reversed so the appeal would not be ongoing, and his criminal charge should be dismissed in the Martinsville Circuit Court. Brian David Hill is actually innocent of his charge and the case should not proceed any further unless the State wants to waste judicial resources and attempt to make yet another wrongful conviction. This would be worthy of any innocence project, carbon monoxide causes crazy behavior. It wastes the court’s time, the law enforcement officer’s time having to testify over a incident that they did not know was caused by carbon monoxide last year. The ends of justice will be best met if Brian were given a certificate of actual innocence and should be given a Writ of Actual Innocence.
Brian has good friends who will stand up for him and fight for him. His criminal charge is just pure insanity once the cause of his madness was medically documented.
God bless you,
Laurie Azgard

The general public will never consider that Brian was being obscene or indecent once they read the proofs of the carbon monoxide gas poisoning. Chronic exposure to such gas can cause issues with one’s mental state.

Will the Commonwealth attorney consider dismissing their criminal charge against Brian? I hope they do. For the interests of justice and for Brian’s actual innocence, his case must be dismissed. It is clear that Brian will not get a fair trial since the Commonwealth had appeared to have filed a notice of bringing up Brian’s prior convictions including his only wrongful conviction in federal court because his public defender told him to plead guilty or he’d face 20 years in prison. He could have been found innocent of that charge too. What a dilemma? A man innocent of both his state charge and federal conviction but yet is being treated like crap.

Will Donald Trump intervene?