UPDATE:
Former Franklin County Sheriff Ewell Hunt has been found guilty of misconduct by an elected official. Hunt must pay a fine of 500 dollars, and he was also sentenced to 30 days in jail, but the jail sentence was suspended. The charge stems from Hunt’s handling of warnings that Deputy Jonathan Agee was driving his patrol car to Salem with a rifle intending to kill his ex-wife, Jennifer Agee, on Memorial Day 2011. Hunt told employees not to alert authorities, but he tried to call Salem officials. Agee, shot and killed his ex-wife and shot Virginia State Police Sergeant Matt Brannock. Prosecutors said Hunt did not do enough to stop the deputy after his wife called to report her husband left in his police cruiser, loaded with guns, threatening to kill his ex-wife.
9/25/12: The misconduct trial of former Franklin County sheriff Ewell Hunt is expected to begin this morning in District Court. Witnesses, including Roanoke city police chief Chris Perkins, dispatchers from the Franklin County sheriff’s office and Virginia State Police have been called to testify. State senator Bill Stanley will represent Hunt and since the Franklin County commonwealth’s attorney’s office had to recuse itself, the Lynchburg commonwealth’s attorney’s office will handle the prosecution. Hunt is charged with misconduct stemming from a 2011 shooting rampage believed to have been committed by one of his former deputies.
