Overview

• Attorney General Jason Miyares published a more than 30-page investigative report detailing alleged misconduct and constitutional violations by Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano.
• The report cites repeated Brady and discovery violations, criticized plea practices, and policies limiting enforcement of some mandatory minimums and relaxing cash bail for repeat offenders.
• Miyares says victims’ rights under Article I, Section 8A of the Virginia Constitution were potentially denied, and he is referring the matter to the U.S. Department of Justice for review.
• Case examples in the report include the office declining to prosecute registered sex offender Richard Cox on an indecent exposure charge and reducing a potential life sentence to two years in an attempted child abduction case.
• Descano rejected the report as a political stunt and defended his record, while Gov. Glenn Youngkin had separately pressed for scrutiny of Fairfax’s handling of the Fair Oaks Mall abduction case.