Va. Supreme Court Justice Hassell dies at 55

Virginia Supreme Court Justice Leroy Rountree Hassell Sr., the state's first black chief justice, has died at 55, the high court confirmed today.

Mr. Hassell missed the court’s January session because he was recuperating from a recent hospital stay. He also missed the governor’s state of the commonwealth address Jan. 12 for the same reason. The Virginia Supreme Court did not release further details about the nature of his health problems.

Virginia Lawyers Weekly reported this morning that Mr. Hassell spoke to the Virginia Bar Association on Jan. 21, when he was given the group’s distinguished service award. The presentation was made during the group's dinner meeting by former Gov. Gerald L. Baliles, who appointed Mr. Hassell in 1989.

According to the weekly, Mr. Hassell appeared frail at the podium, and he mentioned his health only in a passing reference to a bad reaction to some medicine.

“Without question, the chief was a man of consequence," Baliles said today. "When he spoke, people listened.  When he administered the affairs of justice, he did so with firmness and, yet, compassion."

In a brief statement, the Supreme Court said, "Our thoughts and prayers are with his family at this time."

Nominated to the state’s high court at age 34, Mr. Hassell was elected chief justice in 2002 and became the state’s first black chief justice on Feb. 1, 2003. He was also the first chief justice elected by other members of the court. He recently completed that term and was succeeded by Justice Cynthia Kinser.

Mr. Hassell, the fifth of six children, was a graduate of Norview High School in Norfolk. Both of his parents were educators. His father, who died three months before Mr. Hassell was appointed to the Supreme Court, was an assistant high school principal. His mother was an elementary school teacher and later, a school social worker.
 
Mr. Hassell graduated in 1977 from the University of Virginia, where he won a Scholar of the Year award. Three years later, he graduated from Harvard University Law School. He served there as a recruiter in the admissions office and worked on the Civil Liberties Law Review.
 
After law school, Mr. Hassell joined the law firm of McGuireWoods, where he specialized in commercial and professional liability litigation and was co-counsel to the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority. He also served as chairman of the Richmond School Board.

Among his accomplishments, Mr. Hassell established a Commission on Mental Health Law Reform in 2006. The panel's work resulted in, among other sweeping changes, recommendations to ease the standard for involuntary commitment from "imminent danger" to "substantial likelihood" that a patient would harm himself or another person.

The "reforms take an essential first step in the effort to improve the commitment process -- by clarifying the criteria for involuntary treatment, enhancing the quality of clinical evaluations and strengthening the procedures for mandatory outpatient treatment," Richard Bonnie, the director of the University of Virginia's Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy and chairman of the Virginia chief justice's Commission on Mental Health Law Reform said in 2008.

Baliles said he kept in touch with Mr. Hassell after appointing him to the state's high court.

"I valued his friendship, his contributions to the commonwealth and the country, and respected his integrity, intellectual depth and commitment to access to justice for all our people, regardless of circumstance," Baliles said.

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli said in a statement: “Today we mourn the passing of Justice Leroy Hassell Sr., who has left us in the prime of his years. The Norfolk native will be nobly remembered by Virginians for many things, including his intellect, his warmth, and his concern for the downtrodden."

"Justice Hassell served as the commonwealth’s first black chief justice, which he accepted with both a measure of discomfort and resolve,” Cuccinelli said.

Cuccinelli quoted Mr. Hassell telling the Richmond Times-Dispatch in 2003 that he did not wish to serve because of his race, but a "desire to serve because I am a Virginian by birth who has a strong affection and love for the commonwealth and its people.”

Cuccinelli continued, “Chief Justice Hassell played an important role in helping our generation look beyond the racial lines that separated us, and toward a culture of merit and justice that unite us. He was both generous and resolute in his determination to help his fellow man. Virginia is greater and stronger because of his example, and he will be greatly missed."

Today the Courts of Justice Committees in the House of Delegates and the state Senate are scheduled to screen candidates for another vacancy on the high court, the seat of retiring Justice Lawrence L. Koontz Jr. This year Koontz reaches the mandatory retirement age of 70. Because the legislature is in session, it will also select Mr. Hassell's successor.

Away from the bench, Mr. Hassell endured a number of legal problems with two of his children.

Leroy R. Hassell Jr. faces a possible life term in prison at a March 17 sentencing in Henrico County Circuit Court after pleading guilty in December to robbery and two lesser charges stemming from a home invasion last June. The 23-year-old Hassell had previous arrests and convictions in Henrico for forgery, petty larceny, illegal entry and embezzlement.

Hassell’s daughter, Joanna I. Hassell, was 18 when she was convicted in June 2009 of shoplifting in Henrico for leaving a Macy’s at Regency Square mall without paying for several items of clothing valued at $71.97. She was given a 30-day suspended sentence.

(This has been a breaking news update. Check back for more details as they become available.)