Former Prince William County election chief Michele White was cleared of criminal charges Wednesday after a judge agreed to dismiss a remaining misdemeanor charge related to her actions during the 2020 presidential election.
White, 52, was indicted about 16 months ago on three charges related to alleged corruption and lying in connection with her duties during the November 2020 election. State prosecutors with Attorney General Jason Miyares’ Election Integrity Unit dropped two felony charges in December and the final charge — neglect of duty by an elections officer — on Wednesday, Jan. 3, just two weeks before a scheduled jury trial.
During a pretrial hearing before Judge Carroll Weimer, Jr., Assistant Attorney General James Herring told the court that like the previously dropped felonies, witnesses provided “inconsistent statements” and “the Commonwealth is unable to proceed with the misdemeanor indictment” against White.
In court documents, Herring also said that during interviews with witnesses, who have not been named, “additional exculpatory evidence” was discovered. Herring did not provide any details about the evidence.
Weimer said he found “good cause” to grant the prosecutors’ motion to dismiss.
White, who was present in court with her defense attorney, Zachary Stafford, showed no emotion when the charges were dropped and declined to comment after the hearing.
Herring left the courtroom quickly and declined to comment on the dropped charges.
“A prosecutor’s ethical duty is not only to seek convictions but to pursue justice based upon the facts and evidence available,” Miyares’ spokeswoman Victoria LaCivita said in an email after the hearing.
“As we said today in our motion, in preparation for trial we learned that several of the witnesses interviewed unexpectedly changed their statements,” she added. “This case was heavily dependent upon witness testimony, and the inconsistencies in these witness statements forced us to reluctantly withdraw the charges.”
At the hearing, Weimer asked Herring about the changes in witness testimony and if prosecutors were implying that “shenanigans” had occurred during the pretrial discovery process.
Herring answered “no” and said the prosecution does not believe White had anything to do with the witnesses changing their testimony in the weeks before trial.
Neither Herring nor Miyares’ office ever fully detailed the accusations leveled against White, saying only that White altered election results within the state election reporting system known as VERIS, and that resulted in the inaccurate reporting of Prince William County’s presidential election results to the state. White “swore falsely to those election returns,” prosecutors said in court back in March.
Prince William County Election Chief Eric Olsen said repeatedly that any discrepancies in the election results did not change the outcome of the elections in Prince William County that year.
Prosecutors also never provided any specifics about the number of ballots they alleged White altered or failed to count. They also never specified whether the ballots at issue were cast in person or were mailed absentee ballots, nor did they say which precincts might have been affected.
After Wednesday’s hearing, Stafford, White’s attorney, said White was falsely accused of changing absentee ballot results and said the allegations, while baseless, took a great toll.
“Michele White was being accused of a broad array of conduct,” Stafford said in his statement. “It was a collection of allegations regarding her performance as registrar, and the underlying theme was that Ms. White was bad at her job. The most concerning allegation was that she altered election results in VERIS on November 7, 2020, with incorrect numbers for the central absentee precinct,” Stafford said. “That allegation was subsequently disproven by a Commonwealth witness.”
“Ms. White was a dedicated public servant, and the evidence shows that she conducted an accurate election in 2020,” the statement added. “Every aspect of Ms. White’s performance during the 2020 election was scrutinized, and the evidence is clear that Ms. White did not commit any crimes during her tenure as registrar in Prince William County, and the attorney general’s office wisely dropped the charges.”
“This process has been traumatic for Ms. White, and today’s dismissal is just the first step towards recovering from that trauma,” Stafford’s statement said.
“It’s a crime that she had to go through all of this,” Stafford said on the steps of the Prince William County courthouse. “The damages she suffered have been immeasurable.”
Reach Cher Muzyk at cmuzyk@fauquier.com
(5) comments
This was a politically motivated persecution by the well known clown show in the Miyares administration. Miyares was a failed attorney who is way over his head surrounded by his hand picked clown brigade. Miyares failed in Loudoun in his persecution of school administrators.
A simple error should never be considered a criminal act. I hope the Attorney General's office releases the reason the charges were filed. It appears that everyone made a mistake in this event.
This whole episode stinks of disintegrity.
I have no inside information on what was the actual problem. But after the Nov 2020 election I reported to the PWC election office that I found a major problem on how the Presidential vote in PWC was allocated by congressional district on the state website. It did not effect over all results but it made no sense. I believe that was the problem that started this issue. It was corrected on the state website a few days latter.
I hope the PWTimes gets to the bottom of this issue. No one else is asking the AG office that needs to be asked. If you want my spreadsheet on the error I found after the 2020 election you know how to contact me.
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