I-64 juvenile receives new sentence

By Tasha Kates

Published: July 8, 2008

A 16-year-old Crozet boy who pleaded guilty to taking part in the Interstate 64 shootings will spend 180 days in an intensive program at a local juvenile center.
On Tuesday, a judge suspended Brandon Dawson’s sentence to a state juvenile facility, deciding instead to send the teen to the post-disposition program at the Blue Ridge Detention Center. This was Dawson’s second sentence in the case; he sought an appeal last month after he was originally sentenced in the county’s Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court in May to an indeterminate amount of time at a state facility.
Dawson testified on Tuesday that he wasn’t thinking on March 27, when police reported several shots fired on I-64 from the Route 690 overpass and at the Ivy exit.
He has since contemplated what happened.
“I’ve been thinking about it,” Dawson said. “I was thinking it was a bad decision and I was hanging out with the wrong person.”
Dawson and 19-year-old Slade A. Woodson were charged with 15 felony counts in Albemarle in connection with the shootings, during which two people were slightly injured. Authorities have said several homes in Albemarle also were hit with gunfire.
Woodson’s trial is scheduled for Sept. 16 in Albemarle Circuit Court.
Dawson previously pleaded guilty to five counts of maliciously shooting at an occupied vehicle. Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Darby Lowe previously said in court that Dawson had admitted to firing one shot off the overpass and two shots at homes in Albemarle.
In both juvenile and Albemarle Circuit Court, Lowe has said she was willing to allow Dawson to try the in-house Blue Ridge program. After several friends and family members testified Tuesday to Dawson’s love of farming and close family ties, defense attorney Dana Slater said in court that her client should be prepared to return to the community with the help of local programs.
“He is at the age where he is just about to pop into this world,” said Slater, adding that the program’s educational, mental health and life skills services would help him do just that.
Lowe agreed that the services at the juvenile program would be beneficial to Dawson.
“This is a boy who will come back to our community, and we want him to come back in better shape,” Lowe said in court.
The seriousness of the charges and the length of Dawson’s detainment were issues raised during Tuesday’s sentencing. Lowe said her office had wondered whether the six-month program would be enough, but Dawson has already been detained for more than three months, time which will not count toward his sentence.
Dawson also was sentenced to supervised release and ordered to pay about $12,500 in restitution. Circuit Court Judge Cheryl Higgins said the teen would be expected to get a job after he is released and pay 20 percent of his salary toward the restitution. The victims in this case also will get a chance to speak with him through a restorative justice program.
Dawson is scheduled to return May 27 the juvenile court for three charges to which he previously pleaded guilty. The charges, which involve shots fired at homes and from a vehicle, have been deferred pending good behavior.
Tasha Kates is a staff writer at the Daily Progress in Charlottesville.