Friday was call-back day at the Mineral County Courthouse. The kind of call you never want to get.
Nearly three dozen people who were indicted Wednesday by the Mineral County Grand Jury were contacted by the sheriff’s office and directed to report to court at 9 a.m. Friday for a preliminary appearance before Circuit Judge Andrew Frye.
While the proceedings were anything but pleasant for those who showed up, a harder welcome awaited those who did not appear, in the form of a bench warrant for their arrest. In one such case, Christopher Redman was one of three men charged with grand larceny. The other two were in court Friday, made their appearance and were released on bond. Redman was not in court when his cased was called.
“He’s going to jail because he didn’t show up,” Frye said matter of factly.
Aside from Keyser City Councilman Marques Rice, who faces charges of embezzlement and false pretenses, the most prominent of the defendants was Franklin McDaniel, charged with arson in the August fire that destroyed the Railsyde Tavern in Keyser.
Clad in an orange jump suit, his hands manacled at the waist, McDaniel said nothing and betrayed no emotion at the recitation of charges that include arson of the first and second degree, and six counts of attempted murder.
With so many cases, Frye maintained a brisk pace. Most of the defendants did not have lawyers, and in such cases one of the dozen or so local attorneys present either volunteered or was assigned by the judge to provide representation.
“Who wants to volunteer for third-offense DUI?” Frye asked the attorneys.
Clad in a black robe behind the ornately carved wooden bench that is the seat of judicial authority in Mineral County, Frye sat beneath a wood panel emblazoned with the word “Justice.” As he processed an ever-growing stack of folders for each case, Prosecutor Lynn Nelson sat at a table across from the bench, beside the defendants and their attorneys. He added little to the proceedings other than to verify or endorse bond amounts.
An armed deputy stood at a side door, a bailiff to the rear. Red-velvet curtains on the floor-to-ceiling windows blocked the morning sun. Courthouse staff manned a table to the judge’s left, beside a half-dozen parole and probation officials. At one point a door opened to an antechamber, where sat a half-dozen men in the orange jump suits of the Potomac Highlands Regional Jail.
As each defendant was called to the front, Frye read the charges against them, as well as the potential sentence they face if found guilty. “The penalty for grand larceny is one to 10 years in the penitentiary,” he advised one man. “Do you understand?”
Frye went over bond with each defendant and directed those who did not have fingerprints on file to have them made. If an insanity plea were to be filed, the court must be notified within 10 days. After bond was set, he advised the defendants that they were “excused.”
For now. Virtually all were told to return Oct. 8 for additional motions in their cases. Most cases were processed in about five minutes.
The attorney for one man asked if his client could travel from West Virginia into Virginia, in order to shop for groceries. Frye allowed the privilege, but only after the defendant agreed to waive extradition if he was charged with an offense in Virginia.
Frye asked one man charged with failure to pay child support if he had a job. When the man answered no, the judge sternly asked him why, noting that children need to be fed, sheltered, have “shoes and socks.”
“There’s no work for me in my field,” the defendant said.
Frye advised him to address that issue. “When you come back in October, have a job,” the judge said. “You’re excused for the day.”