Selecting interim Mathews commonwealth’s attorney begins

Would succeed commonwealth’s attorney
found dead with gunshot wound

The death of Mathews Commonwealth’s Attorney Marie Walls, who passed away from an apparent gunshot wound on Tuesday, Feb. 10, was still under active investigation by the Virginia State Police (VSP), as of last week. Asked for some kind of reassurance about the nature of Walls’ death, VSP spokesman Matt Demlein said in an email that the agency still has no comment on the matter. Mathews Sheriff April Edwards said the investigation is out of her hands and she cannot comment on the matter either.

With court cases piling up, the judges of Virginia’s 9th Judicial Circuit, assisted by the Virginia Association of Commonwealth’s Attorneys, are in the process of selecting an interim commonwealth’s attorney to serve in Mathews until an election can be conducted for the position.

Amanda M. Howie, executive director of the association, said efforts are being made to have an interim commonwealth’s attorney appointed “in the very near future,” possibly as soon as this month. Two or three names are…

(Sherry Hamilton is a reporter for the Gloucester-Mathews Gazette-Journal, where this story originally appeared. It is reprinted with permission.)