'No history of violence': the parole board's reasons versus the records

When Gov. Abigail Spanberger's parole board grants release, it attaches a list of reasons to each decision. In August, some of those reasons were contradicted by the board's own records.

Start with Rodney Jerome Jones of Newport News. The board's August 2026 report lists his convictions: three counts of forcible sodomy, two counts of rape and one count of aggravated sexual battery, from 2003. Among the reasons the board gave for releasing him: "No history of violence."

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%.

Randy Edward Logsdon Jr. of Virginia Beach has a record listing 11 counts of aggravated sexual battery and four counts of forcible sodomy from 1996, plus three earlier sexual-offense convictions in juvenile and domestic relations court in 1995. The board's reasons again include "No history of violence," and one member cited "no previous felony convictions."

Reginald Shell has two first-degree homicide judgments from 1989, one in Hampton and one in Newport News. The board's reasons for releasing him include "No previous felony convictions." That may be technically true of his record before 1989. It is not a reassuring way to describe a man convicted twice of first-degree homicide.

"No victim opposition" appears in the reasons for Selwyn Shawn Herring of Norfolk, whose victims, the minutes say, have all died, and for Edward Charles White of Pittsylvania County, whose victim asked for no contact with the board. Silence or death is not the same thing as support.

In other cases, victims did oppose release, and the board granted it anyway. Two family members of Mark Borkowski, shot dead on a Norfolk basketball court in 1992, opposed parole for Victor Fields. Two family members of the victim in Isaac Terrell Taylor's Richmond murder case opposed his release. Three victims gave statements in Reginald James Holland's Arlington case. Even Dennis Rodney Harold's victim, who could not take a position, said they "would be fearful" of encountering him.

The board's paperwork has other problems. The vote table in its August report lists Chair Shannon Dion twice in Shell's case and Vice Chair Kecia Brothers Hayes twice in Harold's case, while leaving off Board Member Valerie Boykin; the meeting minutes say both votes were 5-0. Members described Harold's infraction-free period as 24 years in one statement and as dating from 2022 in another. Members also characterized the prosecutor's view in Taylor's case two different ways.

To be fair, the board's records also contain specific, verifiable reasons: years without infractions, completed programs, risk-assessment scores and, in several cases, the support of the prosecutor. In two cases, Holland's and Lemen's, members who voted no explained why on the record. That transparency is worth something.

But when the reasons are a checklist of phrases, and some of them don't match the record, Virginians are right to ask how carefully the cases were weighed. The members who signed off are all Spanberger appointees, confirmed in March by the Democratic-led General Assembly.

The checklist problem shows up in the numbers too. "Infraction free for at least the last 24 months" appears in all 14 grants, "Risk assessment score low" and "Stable Release Plan" in 12 each. Those are worthwhile facts, but two clean years do not erase a life sentence.

Prior Republican leadership ran a much tighter board: under Gov. Glenn Youngkin, the grant rate was about 1.6% in 2023, according to Bolts magazine. Spanberger's board granted about 32% of the cases it decided in August.

Spanberger's office has not answered WJLA's question about whether she approves of the board's pace. Voters can ask their legislators to require that the board's stated reasons match the record.

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