Crime & Safety

UPDATE: Severance Preliminary Hearing Set for June 18

Severance is being held without bond.

A preliminary hearing is set for Wednesday, June 18 for Charles Severance, who appeared Tuesday morning via video in General District Court from the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center in Leesburg, according to Heather Williamson, a spokeswoman for theCommonwealth Attorney's Office in Loudoun County.

Severance is charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon; his case was the only one on the docket. The charge date is March 10, Williamson said.

Attorney Edward Ungvarsky, who is with the Northern Virginia Capital Defenders Office in Arlington, represented Severance, Williamson said. "He was not appointed," she said. Ungvarsky defends people who are charged with capital crimes.

Ungvarsky entered an appearance Tuesday on Severance’s behalf over prosecutors’ objection.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Plowman said it is a waste of taxpayer money for a public capital defender to work on behalf of a defendant charged with a routine felony related to illegal firearms possession, according to WUSA-9.

“I think taxpayers would be upset that we’re paying him to do one job, and he’s doing something else,” Plowman said afterward. Plowman said he was not sure if he would file a motion seeking Ungvarsky’s dismissal.

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For the Wednesday, June 18 appearance, Severance will actually be in the courtroom, at 1 p.m., Williamson said.

Severance is being held without bond, she noted.

Severance was brought to the Adult Detention Center in Leesburg on Monday after being picked up by officers from the U.S. Marshals Service. The Loudoun County adult detention center is located near the Leesburg airport.

He was detained in West Virginia on the Loudoun weapons charge, after his arrest in March in Wheeling.

Loudoun County officials on Tuesday morning released this booking photo of Severance, 53.

Alexandria officials are interested in talking to Severance in connection with three high-profile homicides; the homicides include Ruthanne Lodato, a local music teacher killed in a fatal shooting at her home on Feb. 6.

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