Illegal Gambling Charges Reduced To A Misdemeanor
Brian Rowsey entered guilty pleas to all three of the felonies he’s been charged with on Friday, pursuant to a plea deal with the commonwealth’s attorney’s office.
The three counts of conducting an illegal gambling operation will be taken under advisement for two years, and if Rowsey maintains good behavior and doesn’t operate any further Bingo games – or any other games involving prizes – for the next two years, two of the charges will be dismissed and the third will be reduced to a misdemeanor count of accessory to gambling activity for which Rowsey will pay a $50 fine.
If he fails to abide by the conditions of the agreement during that two-year window, a conviction will be entered for all three charges and a sentence will be applied at the discretion of the judge.
The plea was entered following a consultation between Rowsey, who was representing himself on the charges, and Buena Vista Commonwealth’s Attorney Josh Elrod after a pre-trial hearing on several motions Rowsey had filed with the court.
Among them were motions to dismiss evidence seized from a cell phone Rowsey said was searched illegally when he was arrested on March 5 due to the police not having a warrant for the phone. In his motion, Rowsey acknowledged that the phone did not belong to him and was not registered to him, and Judge Christopher Russell ruled that, since the phone did not belong to him, Rowsey did not have legal standing to challenge the search of it and subsequently denied the motion.
Rowsey’s second motion to suppress claimed that statements he made to police during an interview following his arrest were coerced by officers who had threatened or implied that his wife would be arrested and charged if he did not cooperate.
A short hearing was held on the motion during which Elrod called Sgt. Jacob Moore, one of the officers who conducted the interview, who testified that he had never mentioned Rowsey’s wife and that she was “never a target of this investigation,” and that he “never talked about charging her with this or anything else” during the interview.
Moore also testified that Rowsey had initially consented to the search of the phone on March 5 and that he had opened the phone for them after showing “no reluctance” to signing a consent form for the search. Moore testified that after a few minutes, Rowsey withdrew consent for the police to go through his phone, at which point the search ceased and no warrants were obtained.
Rowsey offered no evidence to support the motion and Judge Russell denied it as well.
Russell took a third motion from Rowsey, one invoking spousal privilege to prevent his wife from being compelled to testify against him, under advisement until the trial that had been scheduled for next month.
Before concluding the hearing, Russell asked Rowsey if he would like to continue representing himself and laid out the fact that two of the three charges he was facing carried sentences of up to five years each and the third, which was for conducting a gambling operation for more than 30 days, carried a maximum sentence of 10 years.
If convicted and sentenced to the maximum sentence for all three charges, Rowsey would face 20 years in prison if they were served consecutively.
Rowsey said that he had offered $50,000 cash to lawyers but that none would take the case. Russell offered to see if Rowsey qualified for a court-appointed attorney and Rowsey initially accepted, but when Russell asked about both Rowsey’s employment and his wife’s as part of the process, Rowsey asked if the determination would be made based on his status or his wife’s.
Russell replied that both were taken into account and Rowsey said he no longer wished to continue with seeking a court-appointed attorney.
Russell acknowledged that “the decision is ultimately your decision,” but told Rowsey that he didn’t think it was “a good idea,” noting that even attorneys who are accused of crimes will often have other lawyers to represent them in court.
Russell also advised Rowsey that the rules and procedures of the trial would be the same for this trial as they would for any other and that he would not be receiving any special guidance from the court on defenses to use or objections to raise, that he would be on his own without an attorney. Rowsey maintained that he was prepared to proceed with representing himself.
