LIGHTS, CAMERA, SONNENBERG: Patriot’s Chris Sonnenberg threw five TDs vs. Colgan. Sports, Page 16
September 12, 2018 | Serving Haymarket, Gainesville and Western Prince William County | Vol. 17, No. 37 | www.PrinceWilliamTimes.com | 50¢
Testimony begins in Hamilton trial Woodbridge man accused of killing wife, police officer By Amanda Heincer Times Staff Writer
The trial is now underway in the trial of Woodbridge man charged with shooting and killing his wife and a Prince William County police officer in February 2016. A jury panel of 16 – including 12 jurors and four alternates – was seated Monday in the capital murder trial of Ronald Williams Hamilton. In a selection process that stretched over five weeks, attorneys questioned more than 300 jurors before selecting
the jury, comprised of two men and 14 women, for a trial that is expected to last 12 weeks, ending in November. Hamilton, 34, pleaded not guilty to Ronald Williams multiple charges, inHamilton cluding three counts of capital murder, for the shooting deaths of his wife, Crystal Hamilton, 29, and Officer Ashley Guindon, 28. Hamilton also pleaded not guilty to two counts of attempted capital murder for the shootings of two other police officers, who survived. If convicted of capital murder, Hamilton could be sentenced to death or to life in prison. On Tuesday, the trial began with
opening statements from prosecutors and defense attorneys. In his opening statement, Prince William County Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Brian Boyle described Feb. 27, 2016, as a day that violence and tragedy came to the Lashmere Court in Woodbridge, which he described as “a quiet little street on the corner of suburbia.” The quiet of the day was shattered first in the Hamilton home, when Ronald Hamilton first assaulted and then shot his wife, Boyle told jurors. Neighbors heard gunshots, Boyle said, when Hamilton shot three police officers who responded to his wife’s 911 call. “The violence that just spilled out onto Lashmere Court was an extension of the violence that had started hours earlier in the Hamilton resi-
dence,” he said. Boyle played an audio recording of Crystal Hamilton calling 911 for help. Later, he played audio recordings of police radio transmissions sent by two of the first responding officers at the scene, after they had been shot. In his opening statement, defense attorney Edward Ungvarsky asked jurors to consider Hamilton’s emotional state at the time of the shooting. Ungvarsky suggested that Hamilton began to panic after his wife called 911. “Ronnie Hamilton started to feel his world crashing down on him,” Ungvarsky said, adding that Hamilton saw before him the end of his marriage, separation from his 11-year-old son, the cancellation of See HAMILTON, Page 2
Local schools’ pre-K enrollment reaches all-time high VA First Lady visits one of 44 county preschool classes at Featherstone Elementary By Jill Palermo
Times Staff Writer
COURTESY PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY SCHOOLS
Virginia’s First Lady Pamela Northam visits with some of the children enrolled in a pre-K class at Featherstone Elementary School in Woodbridge on Wednesday, Sept. 5. Northam is visiting preschool classrooms around the state. INSIDE Calendar.............................................18 Classified............................................21 News....................................................3 Opinion...............................................12
Obituaries...........................................20 Puzzle Page........................................14 Real Estate..........................................19 Sports.................................................15
Virginia’s First Lady Pam Northam stopped at Featherstone Elementary in Woodbridge last week to visit with children in one of Prince William County’s 44 publicly-funded preschool classes. Northam talked to the children and read from Eric Carle’s “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” while they ate lunch at four round tables in teacher Emily Sasz’s classroom, one of several funded by the federal Virginia Preschool Initiative-Plus grant Prince William County schools received at the start of the 2015-16 school year. In part because of that grant, Prince William County has made progress in recent years in the number of children served by pre-K programs for low-income 4-yearolds and this year posted the highest number of preschool slots in the county’s history: more than 800. Initially, the county got off to a slow start when it came to offering pre-K. See FIRST LADY, Page 2
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Gainesville / Prince William Times | www.princewilliamtimes.com | September 12, 2018
Trial underway for Woodbridge man accused of killing wife, police officer HAMILTON, from Page 1 his security clearance, which he held as a soldier assigned to the Pentagon, and the end of his Army career. Ungvarsky said there “is no denying” that Hamilton fired the shots that killed his wife and one police officer and injured two others, but asked jurors to consider his intent and emotional state. “Ronnie never intended to shoot and kill any police officers, not for one moment,” he said.
Hamilton, a U.S. Army staff sergeant who served two tours of duty in Iraq, appeared in court dressed in his Army service uniform. Several rows in the courtroom were filled Tuesday with family members of both victims. Relatives of Crystal Hamilton and Ashley Guindon sat on one side, while Ronald Hamilton’s family members took benches on the other. The crowded courtroom also included Prince William County Police Chief Barry Barnard in the front
row and Sheriff Glendell Hill standing in the back during the opening statements. During jury selection, prosecutors listed 77 potential witnesses they could call in the case; defense attorneys listed 55 potential witnesses. Both prosecutors and defense attorneys said they don’t anticipate calling all of their possible witnesses. Guindon, the police officer who was fatally shot, was in the middle of her first day on the job a Prince William County police officer when she
responded to the call along with her training officer. She had been sworn in the day before. Crystal Hamilton, who worked for the U.S. Marine Corps’ Wounded Warrior Regiment, was found dead in a bedroom in the house, police said. According to court records, Hamilton spoke to police and admitted to the shootings. For more coverage of Hamilton’s trial, visit www.princewilliamtimes.com. Reach Amanda Heincer at aheincer@fauquier.com
VA First Lady visits one of 44 county preschool classes at Featherstone Elementary FIRST LADY, from Page 1 The commonwealth launched its Virginia Preschool Initiative program in 1995 as a way to offer preschool to at-risk 4-year-olds not served by the federally-funded Head Start program. Prince William didn’t take advantage of the VPI program for more than a decade. The county opened its first VPI classrooms with just 36 students in 2006. That year, about 250 children were attending VPI and Head Start preschool classes across the county. At the time, school board members said they wanted to focus on finding adequate space and funding to provide full-day kindergarten to all students rather than pursue a larger preschool program. That goal was reached in 2007, when full-day kindergarten was
standard in all Prince William elementary schools. In the spring of 2015, the Prince William County School Board voted unanimously to accept about $17.5 million in federal money from an Obama administration grant that added 144 VPI-plus slots at schools across the county, bringing the total number of Prince William children enrolled in Head Start, VPI and VPI-plus to 613. This year, more than 800 children are enrolled in 44 preschool classes housed in 29 schools, school division officials say. The boost was partly made possible by the completion of an addition at Pattie Elementary School in Montclair, which allowed the school’s kindergarten through second-grade students to move into Pattie’s main building from the nearby Washing-
ton-Reid Elementary School, which had been a K-2 annex for the school. For the first time this year, the Washington-Reid building contains only preschool classes. Still, despite a steady increase in available publicly-funded preschool slots over the past decade, the county takes advantage of only about one-quarter of the 1,600 VPI slots for which it is eligible, according to Amanda Wilder, the county’s director of Head Start and preschool programs. “The reality is, you have to be able to have space [to accommodate more preschool classes] and you have to have the local match,” Wilder said, referring to the need for local matching funds for each VPI student. The numbers in Prince William County reflect the situation with preschool enrollment across the state. According to a 2017 report by the National Institute for Early Childhood Education at Rutgers University, only about 18 percent of 4-year-olds in Virginia are enrolled in state-funded preschool programs. That figure placed Virginia in 29th place among the 50 states in access to preschool. Northam, a former teacher, has adopted early-childhood education as a focus of her efforts as Virginia’s first lady. During her visit to Featherstone Elementary, Northam did didn’t mention the state’s ranking in access to publicly-funded preschool programs or whether her husband, Gov. Ralph Northam (D), has any immediate plans to direct more funding to the VPI program.
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Instead, Northam said her aim was just to visit preschool classes and talk with teachers and school administrators about their needs. Northam said she was impressed with the positive interaction and connections made between the Featherstone teachers and students. “When you see those amazing educators we have today really focusing on what that specific child’s needs are and how to motivate them, it is so hopeful and so encouraging,” Northam said. “They do incredible work and that is why we are really here today, to celebrate them and the amazing work that they do for the Commonwealth of Virginia.” During her visit, interim School Board Chairman Dr. Babur Lateef said he believed money spent on early childhood programs is a smart investment that helps children do better throughout their academic careers. “This is so critical for getting kids ready to read faster and just getting them ready to go to school,” Lateef said. Still, Lateef said the school board has no plan yet for what to do when the federal grant money funding at least 144 of the county’s VPI-plus preschool slots runs out at the end of the school year. It’s unclear whether the state or federal government will act to continue the grant when it expires. “My plan is to find funding to continue these programs if I can,” Lateef said. “I’d love to expand them.” Reach Jill Palermo at jpalermo@ fauquier.com
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Want fries with that?
Two drive-thru restaurants approved for Haymarket’s Crossroads Village By James Ivancic Times Staff Writer
The Haymarket Town Council voted narrowly Sept. 4 to allow drive-thru windows at two of three restaurants planned for the controversial Crossroads Village project. A vote on a third drive-thru window failed in a tie vote. The restaurants are part of the mixed-use development the town council initially approved in August. Planned for a tract bordered by Va. 55 (Washington Street), U.S. 15 and Interstate 66, Crossroads Village is proposed to include 79 townhomes, a bank with a drive-thru window and a building that will either become a hotel or an assisted-living facility. In August, the Haymarket Town Council rejected the portion of the application that called for an auto-repair shop. Meladon Group of Chantilly, which is developing the project,
needed a special-use permit for each drive-thru restaurant. The drive-thru aspect of the development was a point of concern among some Haymarket residents wary about the prospect of stackedup traffic and pedestrians dodging cars – a situation at odds with town’s goal of making Haymarket a walking community. The developer added outdoor patio seating to his application and clarified the location of dumpsters. The council voted to grant permission for a drive-thru at two of the three restaurants: one identified as the “central restaurant” and the other, the “eastern restaurant.” The permits were approved in two separate 4-to-2 votes with Vice Mayor Susan Edwards and Councilmen Steve Shannon, Madhu Panthi and Robert Day voting in favor of the permits. Councilmen Bond Cavazos and Connor Leake voted to deny the permits.
Crossroads Village – a mixed-use development of 79 townhomes, two drivethrough restaurants, a hotel or assisted-living facility and other commercial uses – is coming to downtown Haymarket. The vote on the permit for a drive-thru at the “western restaurant” failed in a 3-to-3 tie with Shannon, Leake and Cavazos voting against the permit while Mayor David Leake, who can vote to break a tie, declined to vote. The voting followed a public hearing that drew five speakers who were opposed to the permits. It’s not clear yet which restaurants will move into the area. That corner of Haymarket, located close to its junction with Interstate 66, is
already home to Chick-fil-A and McDonald’s drive-thru restaurants. Attorney Gifford Hampshire, representing Meladon Group, said the developer needs the permits before its representatives can engage in any serious discussions with restaurant outlets about opening at Crossroads Village. Letters of intent to possible tenants have gone out, he said. The next step for the developer is submission of a site plan. Reach James Ivancic at jivancic@ fauquier.com.
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