On July 26, Sen. Joe Morrissey (D) announced that he had reached a $10,000 settlement from a woman who claimed that he had trespassed for parking in a public right-of-way.
According to a press release, Jessica Spain called the police on Morrissey on May 22, 2019, for parking on an access road in the 19600 block of Church Road in Matoaca.
Spain allegedly said that she was in “great fear” due to Morrissey parking his vehicle at the end of her driveway while he campaigned door-to-door in the area. She filed a trespassing complaint the next day, the release states.
Morrissey said he had been told by former Del. Fenton Bland that it was OK to park on the access road because there was a cemetery at the end of the access road and it was an appropriate ingress and egress to and from the site.
Following the call to police, Morrissey moved his vehicle to a neighbor’s driveway and apologized to Spain on the evening of May 22, according to the release.
The trespassing charge was dismissed in Chesterfield County District Court on Sept. 25, 2019, the release states.
Morrissey later sued Spain for malicious prosecution.
On July 19, she agreed to settle for $10,000 and issued an apology to Morrissey, according to the release.
Restraining orders dismissed
In another case from June, Judge Thomas Kelley Jr. dismissed preliminary restraining orders against Morrissey that were filed by the producer and station manager of WJFN Radio following a May 4 incident at the Richmond station.
According to the Virginia Mercury, the producer, David Pascoe, was in his first day on the job when he engendered Morrissey’s ire over a question about his abortion stance and the Supreme Court’s Roe vs. Wade decision.
Station manager Derek Clark was also involved.
