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Commonwealth's Attorney loses second jury trial in a week |
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Written by Staff
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Saturday, 24 April 2004 |
The long-running feud between property owners of Floyd County's only gated community went before a Circuit Court grand jury last week and it took a panel of four men and three women less than two hours to acquit Chris Koumparakis on two charges of trespass.
After a two-day trial in which each side accused the other of bias and the judge had to warn spectators to keep quiet and stop snickering, the jury's verdict came swiftly to cap the latest chapter in the long-running battle that has brought Floyd County deputies several times to the Park Ridge residential development in the northeastern edge of the county and resulted in court cases in three counties.
The verdict was also the second defeat at the hands of a jury in less than a week for Commonwealth's Attorney Gordon Hannett. Six days earlier, another jury acquitted a Floyd man on 140 counts of sexual misconduct after a two day trial. Jury trials are rare in Floyd County Court. Only three have been held in the last four years.
Koumparakis, of Ridgeway, appealed a lower court judge's verdict last year that found him guilty of two counts of trespass - both misdemeanors - because he appeared at meetings of the Park Ridge board of directors after being banned by a vote of the directors.
But North Carolina attorney Wayne Cromwell, in a passionate 42-minute closing statement before the jury, touted the rights of Koumparakis and his son, a Marine captain and Iraq war veteran, to defend their property rights against a board that he said ignored their rights, Roberts Rules of Order, and common courtesy.
"Mr. Koumparakis had every right to protect his property rights and the rights of a son who was serving his country in time of war," Cromwell said.
Hannett, in a closing argument of less than 15 minutes, said the case was a simple one of trespass under the laws of Virginia.
"He was told by the board and by a judge to not attend the board meetings and he went anyway," Hannett said.
While jurors would not comment on the record about their verdict, some told The Floyd Press privately that they felt the case was not that simple and that Koumparakis was treated unfairly by the Park Ridge board.
Park Ridge's neighborhood battles began several years ago when residents protested actions by a previous board of directors and won a court order for a new election that ousted the old board and installed a new board.
Koumparakis, a land surveyor, had surveyed parts of the Park Ridge development for the old board but the new board refused to pay his bill. He appeared before the board in August 2005 to request payment and also to represent his son, a property owner, who was stationed in Iraq and had been billed for a past-due assessment. He came back to another board meeting and the board later voted in a special meeting to ban him from future meetings.
However, Koumparakis appeared at two other board meetings and 2005 and sheriff's deputies were called both times to remove him from the meeting. The board filed trespass charges against him and he counter filed assault charges against the board. The assault charges were dismissed by Judge Thomas Frith last year when he found Koumparkis guilty on the two trespass charges.
In the appeal, Cromwell asked Circuit Judge Ray W. Grubbs to remove himself from the trial because he had issued a ruling in a previous hearing advising Koumparakis to stay away from the board meetings. The case was assigned to Judge Brett Geisler of Grayson County but the trial was still held in Floyd County.
Current Park Ridge Board President Larry Martin took the stand on Monday and his direct testimony and cross examination occupied most of that first day.
Martin accused Koumparakis of being "a disruptive influence" and said he was "in league" with members of the old board.
"He was there to cause trouble," Martin said.
Martin's testimony was accented by snickers from Koumparakis supporters in the crowd and Judge Geisler ordered the spectators to keep quiet or face ejection from the courtroom.
On the trial's second day, Capt. Speros Koumparakis testified that he asked his father to represent him before the Park Ridge Board and had granted him two written powers of attorney. After the board questioned his father's right to be at the meetings, the son said he deeded his father a 2.5 percent interest in the land so he could appear as a property owner.
Chris Koumparakis denied going to the meetings to "cause trouble" and said he tried at each meeting to present the board with the written powers of attorney and a copy of the deed of trust but that Martin refused to accept the papers.
"They had no interest in listening to me or giving me a fair hearing," Koumparakis said. "I was there to protect my constitutional rights and the rights of my son, nothing more."
Hannett argued the deed was not legal because Koumparakis had not filed it with the Circuit Clerk's office.
A jury member said after the trial that the panel felt Koumparakis had acted in "good faith" even though he had not filed the deed and that the judge's instructions gave them the authority to take "intentions" into consideration. The juror also said they felt Martin displayed an "obvious bias" against Koumparakis.
Both sides of the case came to court with prepared background briefing papers which they handed out to a reporter and others. Each accused the other side of ignoring the law and pursuing personal agendas against their opponents. |
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 12 May 2007 )
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