The Charges Against Jesse Leroy Matthew

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bessie

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Discuss the charges and the implications. Use links to support your theories.

Jesse L. ‘LJ’ Matthew Jr. arrested in case of missing U-Va. student Hannah Graham
By T. Rees Shapiro and Matt Zapotosky September 24 at 9:17 PM

Jesse L. “LJ” Matthew Jr., 32, was charged Tuesday with kidnapping Graham with the intent to sexually assault the 18-year-old student, who vanished after midnight Sept. 13. The charge implies that police have evidence that Matthew took Graham against her will — or while she was in a state that left her unable to consent — but police have not laid out that evidence.
Jesse Matthew, suspect in missing U.Va. student case, charged with abduction of Hannah Graham
By The Associated Press, Jeff Goldberg, ABC News
September 23, 2014 - 07:14 pm Updated: September 24, 2014 - 10:07 am

Authorities late Tuesday obtained a felony arrest warrant from a magistrate on a charge of abduction with intent to defile against 32-year-old Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr., who police believe was the last person seen with Hannah Graham. Graham was last seen early the morning of Sept. 13.


VIDEO: Sep. 24, 2014 - 2:51 - Former DC homicide detective Rod Wheeler explains the charges
 
1411589752310_Image_galleryImage_hannah_graham.JPG

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ucting-missing-UVA-student-Hannah-Graham.html
§ 18.2-48. Abduction with intent to extort money or for immoral purpose.

Abduction (i) of any person with the intent to extort money or pecuniary benefit, (ii) of any person with intent to defile such person, (iii) of any child under sixteen years of age for the purpose of concubinage or prostitution, (iv) of any person for the purpose of prostitution, or (v) of any minor for the purpose of manufacturing child *advertiser censored* shall be punishable as a Class 2 felony. If the sentence imposed for a violation of (ii), (iii), (iv), or (v) includes a term of confinement less than life imprisonment, the judge shall impose, in addition to any active sentence, a suspended sentence of no less than 40 years. This suspended sentence shall be suspended for the remainder of the defendant's life subject to revocation by the court.

(Code 1950, § 18.1-38; 1960, c. 358; 1966, c. 214; 1975, cc. 14, 15; 1993, c. 317; 1997, c. 747; 2006, cc. 853, 914; 2011, c. 785.)

https://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+18.2-48


January 10, 2014

[...]

An “abduction with the intent to defile” is simply a taking of a victim to commit some form of sexual molestation upon him or her.

http://srislawyer.com/virginia-crim...nia-fairfax-attorneys-violation-code-18-2-48/
 
I truly believe that the intent to defile charge is bizarre unless it is related to a different case. The charge itself has been stated to mean its what is in the mind of the perpetrator...they are insinuating rape was his intent without anything i can think of that means they can know his mind.

It doesn't seem to me that a story about a rape that was uncharged or dropped in university a decade ago means he intended to rape hannah. I could see it with physical evidence combined with circumstantial but they need to prove his INTENT was rape...

Seems to me the only way to prove that is to have an attempt to rape her happen.

That said i believe they have much more evidence now but at the time the charge was filed, it just seems so strange unless its another girl.
 
I truly believe that the intent to defile charge is bizarre unless it is related to a different case. The charge itself has been stated to mean its what is in the mind of the perpetrator...they are insinuating rape was his intent without anything i can think of that means they can know his mind.

It doesn't seem to me that a story about a rape that was uncharged or dropped in university a decade ago means he intended to rape hannah. I could see it with physical evidence combined with circumstantial but they need to prove his INTENT was rape...

Seems to me the only way to prove that is to have an attempt to rape her happen.

That said i believe they have much more evidence now but at the time the charge was filed, it just seems so strange unless its another girl.

The warrant (see image above) specifies: "abduct Hannah Elizabeth Graham with the intent to defile such person."
 
I truly believe that the intent to defile charge is bizarre unless it is related to a different case. The charge itself has been stated to mean its what is in the mind of the perpetrator...they are insinuating rape was his intent without anything i can think of that means they can know his mind.

It doesn't seem to me that a story about a rape that was uncharged or dropped in university a decade ago means he intended to rape hannah. I could see it with physical evidence combined with circumstantial but they need to prove his INTENT was rape...

Seems to me the only way to prove that is to have an attempt to rape her happen.

That said i believe they have much more evidence now but at the time the charge was filed, it just seems so strange unless its another girl.

Abduction with intent to defile (again which means sexual molest) is different from attempted rape. It's not a bizarre charge at all, and it's not uncommon. It just requires some evidence, which can be circumstantial, that the motivation was sexual. Maybe the witness who saw them together noticed he was "grabby" with her. Maybe there's something else. We don't know what they have, but there is something they were able to show the Magistrate to get over the probable cause hump.

Maybe reading this example of a valid conviction will help:

http://www.courts.state.va.us/opinions/opncavtx/1040952.txt
 
I truly believe that the intent to defile charge is bizarre unless it is related to a different case. The charge itself has been stated to mean its what is in the mind of the perpetrator...they are insinuating rape was his intent without anything i can think of that means they can know his mind.

It doesn't seem to me that a story about a rape that was uncharged or dropped in university a decade ago means he intended to rape hannah. I could see it with physical evidence combined with circumstantial but they need to prove his INTENT was rape...

Seems to me the only way to prove that is to have an attempt to rape her happen.

That said i believe they have much more evidence now but at the time the charge was filed, it just seems so strange unless its another girl.

Here's what local defense attorneys had to say about it:

Virginia defense lawyers said Wednesday that such cases can be built on circumstantial evidence — using DNA from semen, saliva, blood and hair found among an alleged assailant’s belongings — along with witness accounts of interactions between the two people and other evidence such as video surveillance. Lawyers said an incapacitated victim — one who is drunk, on drugs or unconscious — could be seen as unable to say yes to traveling somewhere or participating in a sex act, even if they were with someone voluntarily at the start.
But that “intent” can be difficult to prove, as prosecutors must present evidence that an alleged attacker abducted a victim planning “some sort of sexual molestation afterwards,” said Alexandria criminal defense attorney Jeffrey Zimmerman, who is not involved in the case. He said that can be a heavy burden that requires proving, beyond a reasonable doubt, “what the defendant was thinking of doing, what they intended to do.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local...dfeb52-4413-11e4-b437-1a7368204804_story.html
 
What we have thus far:

1. JM was seen on CCTV walking around near where Hannah was last seen, around the time she was last seen.
2. JM was seen by a witness approaching Hannah, putting his arm around her waist and walking off with her.
3. Hannah appeared to be inebriated that night.
4. There is no evidence Hannah knew JM prior to the night she met him.
5. JM was the last person witnesses saw with Hannah before she disappeared.
6. JM subsequently refused to come forward when LE released video stills of him and asked for him to come forward.
7. After being identified, JM refused to speak to LE about Hannah.
8. JM went to the police station, but asked for a lawyer and refused to talk.
9. JM drove recklessly when tailed by the police, on the day he left the police station, causing police to stop their surveillance of him on that occasion.
10. JM was charged with reckless driving. He failed to turn himself in despite a warrant.
11. The court issued search warrants of JM’s car and home, after finding that there was probable cause for a search.
12. Forensic results based on what was recovered during the searches, were due back Tuesday.
13. LE has failed to state what the results were of the forensic testing done. However, forensic testing resulted in a warrant and a charge of abduction with intent to defile/rape, on the day the forensics were due back. http://wtvr.com/2014/09/24/jesse-matthew-jr-charged-with-abduction-of-hannah-graham-is-in-custody/
14. JM fled the jurisdiction, ending up in Galveston County TX, after the warrant for abduction was issued.
15. JM did not turn himself in but was spotted by a bystander, in TX, who called the police.
16. JM lied about his name when the police stopped him for questioning.
17. JM was accused of rape in 2002 in college. The police were involved. He was not charged. He was, however, expelled from college due to the allegation of rape.
18. JM has a criminal record. He was arrested and charged with trespassing, larceny and assault after accosting a motorist in 2009. The motorist agreed to drop the larceny and assault charges. JM was convicted of trespassing in 2010.

Did I miss anything?
 
Melissa J. Hipolit ‏@MelissaCBS6 5m
Galveston Presser: Law enforcement is questioning #JesseMatthew right now. They are now checking for evidence in car. @CBS6 #HannahGraham
Virginia, US https://twitter.com/MelissaCBS6 :please::please: BBM
 
(modsnip)

I didn't read the presser thread, but did anyone notice in the video of JM being arraigned in Texas it appears that when he signs his name it's just Jesse. Watch the way his hand moves. If his legal signature is only Jesse, I'm thinking there is something wrong with him. Emotional arrested development or something.

This site explains it in easy to understand terms: http://emotional-intelligence-training.weebly.com/arrested-emotional-development.html

It would fit with him being a generally nice, happy guy, until something ticks him off. Kids are usually happy too, until they get mad about something and hit, yell, bite, kick, etc.
 
(modsnip)

I didn't read the presser thread, but did anyone notice in the video of JM being arraigned in Texas it appears that when he signs his name it's just Jesse. Watch the way his hand moves. If his legal signature is only Jesse, I'm thinking there is something wrong with him. Emotional arrested development or something.

This site explains it in easy to understand terms: http://emotional-intelligence-training.weebly.com/arrested-emotional-development.html

It would fit with him being a generally nice, happy guy, until something ticks him off. Kids are usually happy too, until they get mad about something and hit, yell, bite, kick, etc.

I have missed a lot and (modsnip). As far as JM, no way of knowing what his IQ is, but with a sexual assault in the past and a road rage incident (which I missed) he clearly has power and control issues. I doubt he hasn't assaulted anyone in the past 12 years. He's good to look at for the other missing girls.
 
ABDUCTION WITH INTENT TO DEFILE:

As far as we know there were no witnesses that came forward to say they saw him kidnap her. And, JMO of course, I think LE would need more than just accounts of him being too touchy with strangers that night to level a charge of that magnitude against him.

So...brainstorming here... what might LE have that made them believe JM forced Hannah to go somewhere with him AND wanted to sexually molest her?

Forensic evidence from the vehicle or apartment would have to reveal something sexual in nature, no?

That or his DNA matched with a previous crime(s) or an item(s) from a previous crime was found in the search...

Any other possibilities...?
 
Abduction with the intent to defile.

He did NOT abduct/kidnap Hannah to take her to the zoo.
He did NOT abduct her with the intent to take her shopping.
He did NOT abduct her with the intent to take her on a romantic date.
He did NOT abduct her with the intent to go for a walk on the Parkway.
He did NOT abduct her with the intent to go to the beach.
He did NOT abduct her with the intent to visit the President.
He did NOT abduct her with the intent to keep her safe.
He did NOT abduct her due to a custody battle.
He did NOT abduct her with the intent to take her home to meet his parents.
He did NOT abduct her to go studying at the library.

Noooo.....his charges mean exactly what they say. He took her with the intention of causing bodily harm, raping, etc. ILL INTENTIONS!!! Nothing innocent in that type of abduction. Nope. So in my non professional opinion, LE probably has enough to prove that charge. If she can be placed in his vehicle, and she hasn't been seen since, then she didn't go willingly, or voluntarily. And even if she willingly got into the car, the minute he didn't allow her to leave on her own, that was abduction! Same in the Alexis Murphy case. There's no dispute that Alexis went to his trailer for whatever reason, she drove herself there. HOWEVER, she was NOT allowed to leave that trailer!

Even if Hannah got into his vehicle because she thought the intent was to take her home, and he didn't, then I think the charge will stick. IF LJW can prove he took her to an intersection near her home, therefore a camera would have picked that up, and something happened from there, well OK. The case then has gathered new information and can forward from there. I don't think ANY evidence exists that shows Hannah walking anywhere after leaving the Tempo though. I believe some business would have came forward with that information by now. Likewise I believe there will be video of his vehicle leaving the Tempo, and possibly as it passed other businesses. I think the tough spot LE is in, the videos do not show how many people are in that car.

Likewise, I don't think they've found the 'crime scene' for further charges, yet. And with the rain we've had, blood might have been washed away. I hope that her body is eventually found, the sooner the better of course. I don't think it's a mastermind of hiding the body, just that there are so many places that one could put a body in that area that will take almost chance of finding her. Over a guardrail, in a gully, in a dumpster, etc.
 
Did I miss anything?

Nice list, Gitana! Always love when I see your posts pop up anywhere!

This isn't Hannah specific, but it involves some of what happened with other young woman who interacted with JM that night. Including comments from a friend of JM's for 9 years who said he can be like a "prowler" and specified him being known to look for women that were a little incapacitated.

It seems like other women feeling hassled by JM and him being physically aggressive and/or not respecting their personal space EVEN - when told no repeatedly - should be mentioned probably?

“He kept trying to put his hands on my legs, above and below the knee,” the young woman says. “He’d been way too aggressive all night, putting his arm around me, picking me up, putting his hands on my legs. I looked at him and told him to keep his hands off of me.” They were in Tempo Restaurant on Fifth Street in downtown Charlottesville. It was shortly after midnight, in the early morning hours of Saturday, September 13.

He even followed two women from one bar to another. And they eventually left the second bar in an another attempt to get away from him after he hassled them there also.

And that's ignoring the woman who said he "creeped her the *advertiser censored** out" and the male who he wrestled to the ground and pulled the hamstring of.

“He immediately picked us both up and held us over his shoulders,” recalls Molly, who agreed to speak with me on the condition that I use a pseudonym. “I didn’t like that at all and told him to put me down. It was very strange. He put us down, and we sort of tried to move away from where he was. But he kept coming around, putting his arm around us and stuff like that.”

“He was being aggressive,” Johnson admits. “But it’s nothing I don’t expect from LJ.”

Molly says she quickly grew tired of the uncomfortable advances from LJ. “I just didn’t like how he was grabbing my friend and I.” Hoping to leave him behind, Molly and her group of friends left Blue Light for Tempo. “But he followed us,” she says, despite the fact that no one in their group had invited him to come along. “But after we got to Tempo, he walked in the door right behind us.”

He continued to follow both these women, at the Blue Light and later at the Tempo restaurant, putting his arm around them, his face uncomfortably close to theirs, touching their backs, their hair, their faces, their legs— until one of them cursed at him to stop. After one of the women slipped off the boots she was wearing, LJ unexpectedly pulled off her socks, saying he wanted to see her toes. A friend of LJ’s for over nine years described him as a “prowler,” clarifying his use of the word by adding, “which is not to say he was looking for a victim, but looking for a girl who’s already compromised a little bit, maybe improve his chances.”

Still hassling the girls, and not respecting the "No" on multiple occasions.

Molly recalls that she and a girlfriend sat at a table near the bar. “My friend had on cowboy boots, and they hurt her feet so she took her boots off. [LJ Matthew] walked over to her, took her socks off, and said “Let me look at your toes.” Molly says they didn’t know how to react to him, as he continued to be inappropriate.

“Then he came over to me and tried to touch my legs,” Molly says. “I told him no. He said, ‘I just want to see your feet, like her.’ I told him no. Don’t touch me, do not touch me. One time he reached above my knee, and the next time below my knee. I finally told him, don’t ****ing touch me.”

Still concerned by LJ’s unwelcome behavior, and in a second attempt that night to leave him behind, Molly says she gathered up her friends, including Johnson, and they all left LJ there at Tempo to walk down the Mall to the Escafé restaurant on nearby Water Street. She remembers seeing LJ outside as they left, standing around a group of people near the front door.

Grabby with a British woman.

“I was talking to this woman and her husband,” she continues. “I was talking with her about her hair, it was really short and pretty. I remember them because they had British accents. At one point, I remember [LJ Matthew] was dancing around outside, and he bumped into this British lady pretty hard, just as a way of getting her attention. He was kind of grabby with her, and asked her for a cigarette. Her husband was standing right there. He was like, ‘listen, you can’t treat people like that. You can’t just bump into someone. You need to ask politely if you want something.’ Someone finally gave him a cigarette, and I think he might have sat on the curb and had a few puffs before he got up and walked away. He was alone.”

[Dave=Johnson, the 9+ yr friend of Jesse from above several times]

“No, not at all, not at all. I don’t know her,” Dave answers. “He never mentioned her. I don’t think he knew her. In fact, I’m fairly certain of it, because he walked up and threw his arm around her. That’s what he did to women when he was hitting on them. If he threw his arm around a woman like that, that was not usually a sign that he knew her. That was a sign that he didn’t. If Hannah knew him, she wouldn’t let him put his arm around her.”
 
ABDUCTION WITH INTENT TO DEFILE:

As far as we know there were no witnesses that came forward to say they saw him kidnap her. And, JMO of course, I think LE would need more than just accounts of him being too touchy with strangers that night to level a charge of that magnitude against him.

So...brainstorming here... what might LE have that made them believe JM forced Hannah to go somewhere with him AND wanted to sexually molest her?

Forensic evidence from the vehicle or apartment would have to reveal something sexual in nature, no?

That or his DNA matched with a previous crime(s) or an item(s) from a previous crime was found in the search...

Any other possibilities...?
Really good question, and the focus is on HG because the warrant says so. Here are my guesses in three levels of strength:

Overreaching:
He walked with her holding her tightly + he touched other women that night without their consent
Last seen with HG + comments of witness stating "this is the kind of thing he does"
Evidence of her in his car + one time he told a different girl he was a CMT and would give her a free massage

Weak:
Presence of HG in the car (fingerprints) + history at Liberty
She was described as more drunk/drugged when she left the alley behind Tempo than the Tuel video + presence of ambien in his car or apartment

More solid:
Selfies on his camera with her and the beer in the alley behind Tempo + photos with her passed out and him touching where he shouldn't
Presence of HG in the car (fingerprints) + he texted a friend his intention


For most of this, his phone would need to be non-password protected (as slow as they seem to be with phone records). I think it was too early for DNA in the car, and that would need to be combined with something that proved it was not consensual. We know they didn't find her clothes in his car or apartment.
 
(modsnip)

I didn't read the presser thread, but did anyone notice in the video of JM being arraigned in Texas it appears that when he signs his name it's just Jesse. Watch the way his hand moves. If his legal signature is only Jesse, I'm thinking there is something wrong with him. Emotional arrested development or something.

I'm not sure I'd go to that assumption based on signature... :dunno:

He's able to successfully hold a decent job, went to college (though didn't graduate) - and actually more than one of them, and he had no only a DL, but was also able to drive a cab.

If anything was so off he couldn't sign his full (or whatever his legal signature is) name, I don't see anyway that any of the other things would be true.

Also, I can't imagine they'd let JM sign something in court - especially in/for something as serious as this - without a signature they consider his legal signature. I'd suspect they'd be opening themselves up to the possibility of someone arguing it's not actually him otherwise.

And I know a lot of people who may not actually have a legal signature that's entirely their full names - myself included. My signature hardly looks like even part of a name, let alone enough of it to get all of my name. In fact, it's only the initial of my first name, right into my last name (which tails off). And it's how I sign nearly everything and nearly all of the time. Every once in awhile I might slow down and sign like I did ages ago, but that's so far beyond an exception it's almost irrelevant, and also not on anything of importance. My signature on anything important or legal is the one that only has the first initial and last name, unless middle name or initial is needed, and then that disrupts the signature on everything else.
 
Soliciting teens to "hang out" at 10 pm.

That's quite the age gap in his "range" of those he chooses to seek out to spend time with. :notgood:

That same day, McCoy’s teenage daughter realized Matthew had approached her and a family friend several weeks earlier at a 7-Eleven near Matthew’s Hessian Hills apartment, McCoy said.

Matthew pulled up next to the women about 10 p.m. and asked whether they wanted to hang out, McCoy said, but the friend told him they had somewhere to be.

“We never let her go out,” McCoy said. “It’s scary. It’s just the luck of the draw. We’ll never know how close it was to being something else.”

http://m.newsadvance.com/news/local...ba0-4501-11e4-a3ac-001a4bcf6878.html?mode=jqm
 
(snip for space)
18. JM has a criminal record. He was arrested and charged with trespassing, larceny and assault after accosting a motorist in 2009. The motorist agreed to drop the larceny and assault charges. JM was convicted of trespassing in 2010.

Sorry Gitana, found the link elsewhere. The dates may be revealing for a profiler, if they tie in with any of the other cases. IMO if this man is involved, then we may find a pattern of retaliation against authority.

Virginia's Online Case Information System: http://epwsgdp1.courts.state.va.us/gdcourts/
 
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