Age, a new juvenile law and split votes: the routes Spanberger's board used to release offenders

Virginia abolished discretionary parole for most crimes committed after 1994. Yet in August, Gov. Abigail Spanberger's parole board granted release in 14 cases, according to its decisions report, using every route the law still allows.

The first route is age. Geriatric conditional release is available to prisoners 65 and older who have served at least five years, or 60 and older who have served at least 10, as Bolts magazine has described it. In August, the board granted three geriatric cases and three "dual eligibility" cases, in which a person was considered for both age-based and discretionary release.

The jump is stark. A Washington Examiner analysis published Oct. 7 found that Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin's parole board approved 1.23% of parole requests in all of 2025, granting 32, while Spanberger's board, installed in mid-March, posted a 13.89% release rate in roughly half of 2026, with 38 grants, which the Examiner described as more than 10 times Youngkin's rate. A separate WJLA 7News analysis of every decision since Spanberger's board first met in May counted 48 grants in 205 discretionary and geriatric parole cases, about 23.4%, or "almost one in four," compared with fewer than two in 100 under Youngkin's board. Bolts magazine, analyzing monthly decisions, put Youngkin's board at about 2% from January 2022 through September 2023 and 1.6% for 2023. The analyses cover different periods and case counts, which is why the 2026 figures differ; the August report alone shows 14 grants in 44 parole decisions, about 32%.

Among them: Oscar Robert Lemen, 67, of Albemarle County. An appeals court opinion says he was convicted of forcible sodomy and object sexual penetration of a 13-year-old girl who was a friend of his daughter, and that a jury set a 35-year sentence. Two board members voted no; one said release "would diminish the seriousness of the crime." The three others voted yes, with the chair noting the prosecutor's strong support, and he was paroled.

Also Rodney Jerome Jones, 61, of Newport News, convicted of rape and forcible sodomy, and Selwyn Shawn Herring, 62, of Norfolk, serving life for a 2004 sexual assault with burglaries. Both were granted geriatric release on 5-0 votes.

The second route is new: a law Spanberger signed. SB60/HB318, sponsored by Sen. Mamie Locke and Del. Patrick Hope, took effect July 1 and requires the board to give people serving long sentences for crimes committed as juveniles a "meaningful opportunity for release." Advocates said it could affect hundreds of prisoners.

In August, the board used what its minutes call the "newly enacted Juvenile Offender Criteria Procedures" to parole Stephen Michael Lineham. According to Washington Post reporting summarized by the site Fractured Fairfax, Lineham was 15 when he and a 21-year-old beat and strangled 62-year-old John W. Bannister in his Fairfax County apartment in 2000. Lineham pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and received 60 years with 15 suspended. He served about 26.

The third route is simply a majority. Two of August's grants were 3-2. In Reginald James Holland's Arlington case, which involved rape, sodomy, robbery and abduction, the chair voted no, citing "the lack of demonstrated remorse." Three other members outvoted her.

The board's side deserves a hearing. Members pointed to medical conditions, disabilities, decades of time served and records free of infractions. Supporters of the juvenile law argue that people who offended as teenagers can change, and the law reflects that view.

But these routes are policy choices, and they belong to the people who made them. The juvenile law passed a Democratic-controlled General Assembly and was signed by a Democratic governor. The board applying it was appointed by that governor and confirmed by that legislature.

Under Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, the board granted parole at a rate of about 1.6% in 2023, according to Bolts. Spanberger's appointees granted about 32% of their decided cases in August.

Medical conditions were another recurring justification. The board cited a medical condition for Victor Fields, who shot a man dead over a basketball foul, and for Dennis Rodney Harold, a repeat robbery and abduction offender later convicted of rape. Illness may lower risk, but the record does not show how sick any of these men are.

Not every member agreed. In the Holland and Lemen cases, the two members voting no said more programming was needed, and in Holland's case Chair Dion cited a lack of demonstrated remorse. The majority released both men anyway.

Lawmakers have floated a study of the parole system, according to VPM as reported by Hoodline. Any study should start with the cases above.

Fairfax County is a county in Northern Virginia. Its county seat is Fairfax, an independent city.

Albemarle County is a county in Central Virginia. Its county seat is Charlottesville, an independent city.

Fairfax is an independent city in Northern Virginia.

Newport News is an independent city in Hampton Roads.

Norfolk is an independent city in Hampton Roads.