FOOTBALL: Tyquan Brown’s monster night helped Freedom stay hot on Homecoming. Sports, Page 13
October 3, 2018 | Serving Prince William County | Vol. 17, No. 40 | www.PrinceWilliamTimes.com | 50¢
Jury: Hamilton guilty of capital murder Army staff sergeant faces execution or life in prison By Amanda Heincer Times Staff Writer
A Woodbridge man faces execution or life in prison after a jury convicted him of capital murder. After deliberating for less than eight hours Wednesday, Sept. 26, a jury found 34-year-old Ronald Williams Hamilton guilty of 17
felonies, including three counts of capital murder, in connection with the February 27, 2016, shooting deaths of his wife, Crystal Sheree Ronald Williams Hamilton, 29, and Hamilton Prince William County Police Officer Ashley Guindon, 28. One by one, each of the 10 women and two men on the jury answered “yes” when asked if their verdict
was unanimous. Hamilton, an Army staff sergeant who wore his service uniform to court on each day of the first phase of his trial, stared straight ahead and did not appear to react as the verdict was read. Jurors returned to Prince William Circuit Court this week for the start of the sentencing phase of Hamilton’s trial. On Monday, Judge Steven Smith granted defense attorneys’ motion to separate the sentencing phase into to two parts, meaning jurors will first
decide whether Hamilton should face the death penalty or life in prison for capital murder. After that, a second sentencing phase for the remaining charges will begin. The capital murder sentencing phase is expected to last at least two weeks, during which jurors will likely hear testimony from the victims’ family members, the two Prince William County police officers who survived the shooting, Hamilton’s family members and others who know him. See HAMILTON, Page 3
Funding, or lack thereof, a key topic in school board chair debate By Jill Palermo
Times Staff Writer
PHOTO BY MIKE BEATY
Interim Prince William County School Board Chairman Dr. Babur Lateef and Gainesville District School Board Member Alyson Satterwhite answer questions during a Sept. 27 debate sponsored by the Committee of 100. INSIDE Classified............................................20 Calendar.............................................17 PWC Libraries.....................................16 News....................................................2
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Funding – and whether local schools have enough of it – was a key topic in the first debate between two candidates on the ballot in the Nov. 6 special election for chairman of the Prince William County School Board. Interim School Board Chairman Dr. Babur Lateef and Gainesville District School Board Representative Alyson Satterwhite, who announced her candidacy for chair in March, met for a 90-minute forum Thursday, Sept. 27, sponsored by the Prince William Committee of 100. The two are officially running as independents, as required by Virginia law, but have received endorsements from their respective political parties. Lateef, 46, has been endorsed by the Prince William Democratic Committee, while Satterwhite, 52, was endorsed by the Prince William County Republican Committee in September. They will be joined on the ballot by a third candidate, Stanley Bender, who did not attend the Sept. 27 debate. See SCHOOL BOARD, Page 3
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Former Minnieland teacher pleads guilty to sexually abusing 5-year-olds in his care Detectives: As many as 15 children were touched inappropriately over a year By Amanda Heincer Times Staff Writer
A former employee at a Bristow day care center has admitted to sexually abusing preschoolers in his care in what he described as a “tickling game” that “went too far.” Taylor Keith Boykin, 27, a former teacher at a Minnieland Academy in Bristow, pleaded guilty at hearing in Prince William Circuit Court Monday
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Taylor Keith Boykin
to four counts of aggravated sexual battery, four counts of object sexual penetration, four counts of indecent liberties by a custodian, one count of producing child pornography and one count of possessing child
pornography. Detectives from the Prince William County Police Department’s Special Victims Bureau and the Virginia Department of Social Services began an investigation March 27 into
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an allegation that Boykin “inappropriately touched” a 5-year-old girl at Minnieland Academy, 10368 Bristow Center Drive in Bristow, on March 26. The girl told her mother about the incident, and the mother notified authorities, Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Lauren Pomerantz said in court Monday. Pomerantz said several children interviewed by investigators said that Boykin, who the children called “Mr. Taylor,” would “tickle” their genitals while they slid down a tunnel slide on the day care center’s playground, sometimes pulling their pants and underwear down as they went down the slide. Pomerantz said some of the children interviewed said they did not want to talk about Boykin. One said she was “a bit scared” to talk about the incidents. Another child who told her mother that Boykin touched her inappropriately also told her mother “that teachers were allowed to do that,” Pomerantz said. Police interviewed Boykin April 20. He was placed on administrative leave at the day care in late March. Boykin first “denied that he had touched children in a sexual manner,” Pomerantz said, but later admitted to touching some of the children inappropriately, saying, “I guess it’s the tickling. I shouldn’t have done it.” Boykin then admitted to tickling some of the children all over their bodies, including in their genital areas, Pomerantz said. “It went way too far. It was inappropriate. I shouldn’t have tickled her there,” Boykin said of an inci-
dent involving one 5-year-old girl. Boykin turned his cell phone over to police, and investigators found inappropriate images of young girls, taken on the Minnieland slide, Pomerantz said. Later, investigators executed a search warrant and seized a tablet and smartwatch from Boykin’s home. On the watch, which was capable of taking photos, investigators found about 120 inappropriate images of young girls, Pomerantz said. Parents of some of the children at the day care were able to identify their children in some of the photos found on Boykin’s electronic devices, Pomerantz said. Boykin pleaded guilty to charges involving four female preschoolers in his care over a period of time spanning about a year, but prosecutors said they have identified 15 children who Boykin inappropriately touched or photographed while he worked at the day care center, Pomerantz said. Parents of the victims filled the courtroom for Monday’s hearing, some wiping tears away with tissues as Pomerantz summarized the evidence. Boykin faces up to life in prison for each charge of object sexual penetration, up to 30 years in prison for production of child pornography, up to 20 years for each charge of aggravated sexual battery, up to five years for each charge of indecent liberties and up to five years for possession of child pornography. His sentencing is scheduled for March 21. Reach Amanda Heincer at aheincer@fauquier.com
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FROM PAGE 1
Gainesville / Prince William Times | www.princewilliamtimes.com | October 3, 2018
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Jury: Hamilton guilty of capital murder HAMILTON, from Page 1 In his closing argument, Chief Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Richard Conway said defense attorneys would suggest Hamilton was not in control of his actions and emotions during the shooting. But, Conway argued, the evidence doesn’t support that. “He was in full control of his faculties. He was in full control of his mental state. In fact, he wanted to control everything. He wanted to control his wife,” Conway said. “He was trying to control his wife and then he was trying to control his crime scene.” In his closing argument, defense attorney Gene Hart described the actions the police officers took that day as brave and heroic. “They performed heroically that day when a little bit of war came to Woodbridge,” Hart said. But the question before the jury, he argued, is not about the bravery of the Prince William County police officers, which he said is “beyond dispute.” Instead, he said, the question is about Hamilton’s intentions.
“What was Ronald Hamilton’s intent? What was his state of mind? It’s about getting inside the mind of the defendant,” Hart said. Hart said defense attorneys do not dispute that Hamilton is guilty of the shootings. But they said there was not sufficient evidence of premeditation or malice to prove capital murder. “Mr. Hamilton is guilty of 17 offenses,” Hart said. “But that doesn’t mean he’s guilty of capital murder.” He argued that jurors should consider lesser offenses, such as second-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter, if they find Hamilton acted in the heat of passion and not with premeditation and malice. Attorneys said Hamilton and his wife were arguing the day of the shooting, and he assaulted her, prompting her to call 911 for help. That call sparked Hamilton’s heat of passion, Hart argued. “That just upended Staff Sergeant Hamilton’s world,” Hart said. “His job, his clearance, his identity, his profession, is ruined.” Defense attorneys further argued that Hamilton then acted in the heat of passion when he shot his wife and the responding police officers.
The jury found Ronald Williams Hamilton guilty of capital murder in the deaths of Prince William County police Officer Ashley Guindon, 28, left, and Crystal Sheree Hamilton, 29, his wife. But in rebuttal, Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Matthew Lowery disputed that and said, “This is a case that is all about malice,” adding that Hamilton committed “many, many, many deliberate acts.” “This is not someone who is freaked out. This is not someone who is out of control,” Lowery said. “This is a man who wants to control all of his world and who has lethal intent.” Reach Amanda Heincer at aheincer@fauquier.com
Funding, or lack thereof, a key topic in school board chair debate SCHOOL BOARD, from Page 1 Lateef and Satterwhite answered questions about school security, overcrowded classrooms, how they would address lagging teacher salaries and whether the county’s “revenue-sharing agreement” between the Prince William Board of Supervisors and school board should continue. Lateef, an eye surgeon and father of four, said the school division’s challenges are largely due to a lack of sufficient funding. He said the school board is partly to blame. “We have had a school board that has been soft and irresponsible in their ability to advocate on behalf of the children of our county,” Lateef said. “We have the lowest paid teachers in the region. We are the lowest per-pupil spending county in the region. We have a race to the bottom here. This is unacceptable.” Satterwhite, mother of four grown children, talked of efforts the board has made during her tenure to improve student programs and teacher pay. Satterwhite noted she supported teacher and staff pay increases every year since taking office in 2012. She also said she has opposed new housing developments that would further crowd county schools. Still, Satterwhite said she too, believes the school division must address teacher pay as well as the need for more classroom space. Satterwhite called the revenue-sharing agreement, which largely caps local school funding at 57.23 percent of general tax revenue “a crutch,” and
said county leaders must fund the school division’s five-year spending plan as well as efforts to accelerate new school construction. “Whatever it takes to get it done, we need to do it. Our students deserve it, our teachers deserve it,” Satterwhite added. “Our parents want their children in regular classrooms and out of the overcrowded classrooms.”
Resignation prompts special election
Local elections for the Prince William County School Board and Board of Supervisors won’t occur until 2019. The county has called a special election for the at-large school board chairman’s seat this fall, however, because the former chairman, Ryan Sawyers, resigned from his post in March. Whoever wins in November will face re-election next year. Satterwhite was a vocal critic of Sawyers’ leadership of the school board. In her opening statement, she noted Lateef was a “top donor” to Sawyers’ 2015 campaign and said the community now has an opportunity to vote for a school board chairman who will not “needlessly inject politics into our school system.” The school board is currently split 5 to 3 with Democratically-endorsed members in the majority. The split has at times caused friction, resulting in several party-line votes. One of the most contentious came in June 2017, when the school board voted 5 to 3, again along party lines, to expand its nondiscrimination policy to protect gay and transgender students and staff. Satterwhite voted
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against the change; Lateef was not on the board at the time. Under Sawyers’ leadership, the school board also took a controversial vote to rename the former Mills E. Godwin Middle School to George Hampton Middle School. The change removed the name of a once-segregationist Virginia governor from a minority-majority school as a compromise struck while naming Kyle Wilson Elementary School. The vote was initially unanimous, but Republican-endorsed school board members sought to reverse the name change after some in the community opposed it. The school board also debated for weeks in early 2017 about whether to accept an extra $21.3 million in county funding to expand the planned 13th high school to accommodate an additional 500 students. Although half of the money was used to purchase a new school site in Lake Ridge, some Democrats on the school board opposed accepting the money because they said it did not do enough to alleviate school overcrowding in eastern Prince William elementary schools. During the debate, Satterwhite noted that she “fought” for the school board to accept the money over Sawyers’ objections. Lateef was not on the school board
during any of those contentious debates but said he has called for a careful review of all school board policies to better guide decision-making.
Both oppose arming teachers
The candidates found common ground, however, on school security. Both said they support the pilot program to add five armed “school security specialists” to bolster security among the county’s 61 elementary schools, as well as the ongoing presence of armed school resource officers in all county middle and high schools. Both also said they support the school board’s recent decision to spend an additional $1 million to even out school-security equipment – such as door locks and buzzed entry systems – across the school division, work that will be complete by the end of the school year, Satterwhite said. When asked about school security and whether they would consider arming teachers, Lateef answered: “Absolutely not.” Satterwhite said she ran out of time to address the question about arming teachers during the debate but said in an email that she, too, opposes the idea. “I do not support teachers being armed in our schools,” Satterwhite wrote. “Instead, I support school security specialists, such as our school resource officers and community safety officers, being armed to protect our students and schools. I have been very vocal on this since before I decided to run for chairman.” Reach Jill Palermo at jpalermo@ fauquier.com
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