A day in the Life of Shawn Middlebrooks '08

Chesterfield County Victim Witness Assistance Program

The Chesterfield County Victim/Witness Assistance Program (V/WAP) is located in the basement of the Chesterfield County Courthouse in Chesterfield, VA. The courthouse is located in Chesterfield, VA off Ironbridge Road. The V/WAP is the liaison between victims/witnesses and the commonwealth attorney’s office. Victim/Witness assist on crimes such as felonious assault, malicious wounding, and robbery. Our partner office, Juvenile Domestic Relations (JDR) assists minors, domestic violence victims, and sexual abuse victims. Our primary functions include providing our clients with courtroom assistance, manage multiple case files, research the Virginia legal code, and operate the Client Information Management System (CIMS). We also assist victims in preparing victim impact statements. A victim impact statement is a letter the commonwealth attorney presents to the judge that explains how a particular victim or witness has been affected by particular crime. Our chief goal is to provide our clients with the best possible service in their time of crisis.

On a typical day I arrive at the courthouse at 8:30am and enter through the employee access door. Once I enter the building I report to my supervisor Elizabeth Bernhard to go over the daily focus. I check my emails and phone messages to see if we have been given any new leads on old cases or information for new cases. Next, I pull the appropriate case files for the 9:00am court docket and head upstairs to either general district court or circuit court where I meet with the case victim and the commonwealth attorney. The difference in whether a defendant goes to general district court or circuit court will depend on the severity of the crime in committed. Less serious offenses go to the general district court. The commonwealth attorney’s office operates on a rotating schedule, which means there is a different attorney on the docket each day. Attorneys speak with difficult legal jargon, and many of our patrons do not understand such language, so it is my job to translate the commonwealth’s position. Sometimes this includes going to the law library and researching the Virginia criminal code statutes to better understand unique conditions. Usually, I will assist as many as two to four victims at a time, which means that I am running back and forth between cases. The more serious cases receive precedent over the less serious cases but we never abandons or neglect our clients. At the end of the morning docket I return to my desk, type up my notes; record the services we provided in CIMS, and follow-up with the commonwealth attorney. If the morning dockets are short I may have time to squeeze in a lunch hour; typically, the afternoon 1:00pm docket runs right after the morning docket. I review the afternoon case files, to see what I am dealing with, and head up stairs to meet with the commonwealth attorney and my client(s).

All open and pending cases involving a defendant are public record. I have worked on cases from homicide to misdemeanor assault. If a client has suffered a monetary loss or needs monetary support they can apply for grant funding by filling out a Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund (CICF) application. The CICF is an independent organization that provides monetary support for clients that qualify. The CICF offers up to $15,000 for things such as medical bills, counseling, and restitution. While at victim/witness, I also have to complete an internship project with nine other interns under the Chesterfield County Diversity Internship Program. The project will be presented to the county board of commissioners. The project is a group effort to provide an understanding of how Chesterfield County addresses the issue of diversity in the workplace. We must apply our group experiences as well as individual experiences to come up with a unique and innovative presentation. The most gratifying aspect about working in victim/witness is the satisfaction I get when justice has been served. Two things I have learned as a civil servant is to have patience and tolerance because in the legal world things take time to process. This internship is providing me with an accurate description of situations I will face as a professional in the legal field.

Finally, I would like to thank the Frischkorn and Roy B Sears Endowment, Ms. Amy Hunt, Mr. Rucker Snead III for providing student interns with monetary support as well as mounds of encouragement throughout such a rewarding experience. The stipends they provide allow student interns, like myself, an opportunity to work in fields that may lead to successful life long careers.

July 2007