Brief Summary of the Incident
William was found guilty of pointing a gun at, and demanding money from, a person attempting to buy marijuana and crack cocaine. The gun was implied by the prosecution to have been a BB gun. No one was physically hurt, and William was said to have left with the money. For that, William was convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to 25 years in prison. William's sentencing guidelines for his crime recommended a sentence of 9 years and 3 months to 14 years and 7 months; however, the court almost doubled the max recommended time sentencing William to 25 years.
For more information, below is a detailed description by the Commonwealth of the actual incident for which William was convicted.
Commonwealth's Statement of the Incident
The "statement of facts" below describing the incident are stated in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth's Attoney (the prosecuting attorney). In doing so, this provides an uncensored view of the allegations in the most negative
scenario-against William for which the Judge sentenced William to 25 years in prison. Additionally, the depiction will be confined to the actual incident and the names will be changed to protect the witnesses.
(However, William will be named by the commonwealth as the defendant).
The subsequent description has been written by F. Jefferson James, Senior Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney.
"[Witness A], an acquaintance and drug customer of the defendant, was in his own home in the City of Suffolk in the early hours of August 20,2006. Earlier, [witness A] had arranged to purchase drugs from the defendant. [witness A] was recovering from serious leg surgery and used crutches to ambulate. The defendant came to [witness A]'s home twice on the night of the crime. When the defendant arrived the first time, [withness A]'s father was in the house and after a brief conversation, the defendant left. The defendant had told [witness A] that the defendant had something "good" for him. Based on [witness A]'s prior purchases of drugs from the defendant. [witness A] assumed the defendant was going to sell him some drugs. [witness A] wanted to buy marijuana and crack cocaine. At the time, [witness A] was on probation for Possession of marijuana. After [witness A]'s father left, the defendant returned.
When the defendant visited [witness A] the second time, he said a person in his car had the drugs. [witness A] opened his wallet to pay the defendant, and he looked up and saw that the defendant was pointing a gun at his face.
The defendant demanded the wallet at gunpoint. The defendant also said the people in the defendants car would come in harm [witness A] if he did not give him the money. [Witness A] gave him the wallet because he was afraid of being hurt. [Witness A] describes the gun as a large black semi automatic handgun. [Witness B] testified that he sold a black BB gun to the defendant a day or two before the incident. [Witness B] said the gun was six to eight inches long. After the robbery, [witness A] saw a silver car leaving his driveway."
William A. Brewer III v Commonwealth of Virginia, Record No: 2626-08-1 (Brief of Appellee) (2009) (Internal Citations omitted)
When William went to his sentencing hearing for the aforementioned conviction, he was sentenced simultaneously and in conjunction with a probation violation. William was on probation for burglary and larceny charges that occurred 3 months after he turned 17 years old (11/16/2001). As such, after William was convicted for the armed robbery he faced a probation violation. It should be stated though the only reason William's probation was revoked was due to the new conviction and this was William's first violation.
The sentencing guidelines (which are guidelines used by the court to determine how much time a person should be sentenced to) took into account William's prior charges and enhanced in a number of years in light there of. With the enhancement, William's guidelines recommended a sentence of 9 years and 3 months to 14 years and 7 months.
In all, William was sentenced to 25 years. This is almost double the maximum prison sentence recommended by the guidelines. William was incarcerated 21 days after his 21st birthday... He will be at least 43 years old when he is released.
There is a common misconception that inmates are released from prison through parole. However, in Virginia parole is no longer available, and earning the maximum amount of "good time" possible, it is mandatory that an inmate serve at least 85% of their sentence.
It is our hope that you will stand with us to petition the Governor to reduce William's sentence to a prison term within the guidelines (9 years and 3 months to 14 years and 7 months).
This is a lengthy amount of time in prison, and a sentence recommended by the judicial system for the crime William was convicted of.
Please help us to advocate to the Governor of Virginia to grant William Brewer a Conditional Pardon. For ways to assist William Please see below.
Please visit the Advocate VA Website here. Advocate VA seeks to bridge the sizeable gap between legislators, legislative policy and those advocating for positive social change, inmate rights and progressive criminal justice reform in the State of Virginia. They are a non-partisan advocacy grassroots movement, which through collaboration with reputable advocacy groups and the private citizenry, seek to bring attention to the continued and longstanding bias of those currently incarcerated, while proactively assisting their peers and extended families petition for urgent criminal justice reform for individuals such as William.
Currently they have both a petition (which can be found here) and a form letter to delegates (which can be found here) advocating for felony robbery to be removed from the lengthy list of exemptions of the Goodtime Bill by way of a formal request for delegate sponsorship of a Bill amending Code of Virginia § 18.2-58 to assign individual section codes to the newly defined Classes of felony robbery being 3, 5, and 6; those convictions not resulting in serious bodily injury or unlawful bodily injury. With the intent and purpose to be implemented retroactively, through petition to the court. Should this bill be passed into law, it would be removing non violent robbery offences from the harsh and long list of exemptions under the stipulations of the new Good Time Bill, which would go to reducing the amount of time William has remaining to serve on his sentence.
Sign our online petition to request William Brewer a Conditional Pardon, which will be included with the petition to the Governor of Virginia by clicking here.
Write the Governor of Virginia requesting a Conditional Pardon for William, by copying and pasting the form letter found here into your email, and sending to advocateva@outlook.com
Share the link to the online petition, simply copy and paste the direct link to the Conditional Pardon Petition and share on social media, with advocacy groups or other such interested parties to help advocate for William. http://chng.it/GvsdyVL6c4