LAWSUITS FILED AGAINST HENRICO COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT OFFICIALS
Three lawsuits alleging federal civil rights violations and other charges, were filed against Henrico county circuit court officials in Louisa county circuit court on April 21, 2021.
Judge Lee A. Harris jr, Shannon L. Taylor and Michael Y. Feinmel were listed as defendants, the plaintiff is Nickolas G. Spanos, who has a pending criminal case in Henrico county since 1998.
All three defendants were served by the Henrico county sheriff on May 05, 2021, at their offices located at the Henrico county government courthouse building.
Commonwealth Attorney Shannon Taylor took an immediate leave of absence stating vacation time but with no date of return, her automatic email response stated that:
"I will be out of the office on vacation and will NOT access to my email. Chief Deputy Michael S. Huberman is Acting Commonwealth's Attorney and can be reached at Hub09@henrico.us"
See Louisa Circuit Court filings:
Nickolas Spanos is accused in thirteen grand jury indictments of allegedly distributing 600 kilos of cocaine in the Richmond area for over ten years. Highly suspicious activity by the Henrico Commonwealth attorney's office was emphasized from time the indictments were issued, as former Commonwealth attorney Howard C. Vick instructed Spanos to leave for Greece and never come back.
The lawsuits allege that the named defendants and the Henrico Circuit court clerk Heidi Barshinger conspired together in tampering with Spanos's case files by removing exhibits of evidence and postdating motions filed until after an order was issued.
In numerous instances, the Henrico commonwealth attorney was filing email copies of Spanos's filings sent to them and having ex-parte hearings with Judge Lee A. Harris to have orders issued before the Henrico circuit court clerk even received the original copy sent by Spanos.
Other allegations in the lawsuit contend political favors and bribery were involved in Spanos's case which led to federal civil rights and constitutional violations over the past eight years.
The lawsuits state that the basis for the illegal activity was to cover up a bribery and political favors by former Henrico commonwealth attorney Howard C. Vick jr, who originally handled the Spanos case.
At the time of the 1998-1999 grand jury hearings, Howard Vick was interviewing for a partner position with McGuire-Woods law firm, the same law firm that Spanos and his family were clients of. McGuire-Woods was representing the Spanos family in several millions in estate assets.
Despite thirteen indictments for conspiracy to distribute cocaine being issued against Spanos, ex-commonwealth attorney Howard Vick never had Spanos arrested, the grand jury indictments were sealed by court order and federal UFAP warrants were dismissed by James B. Comey, who was the Richmond based U.S. Attorney. James Comey was a former partner with McGuire-Woods.
Howard C. Vick established a twenty year distinguished career with McGuire-Woods law firm as head of the white collar crimes until his termination in 2020 upon McGuire-Woods being informed of the corruption between Howard Vick and the Spanos case.
In 2012, Spanos was arrested in the Philippines and held for extradition to Henrico County, Virginia but Henrico Commonwealth Attorney Shannon L. Taylor never filed an extradition request to the Philippines DOJ, despite the FBI demanding that Spanos should be extradited otherwise he would be deported to his safe haven of Greece. A RTD article gave details of Spanos's arrest in the Philippines, https://richmond.com/news/alleged-coke-dealer-located-in-philippines-after-15-years-on-the-run/article_6e331ad0-599d-5d2b-b6c8-310144479dc1.html
After nineteen months, Spanos was deported to Greece, only then did Commonwealth Attorney Shannon Taylor filed an extradition request to the Greek DOJ, which was ultimately denied by a Greek tribunal.
The lawsuit shows that the basis of corruption fell upon Shannon Taylor and Michael Feinmel, when Spanos filed a Motion to Dismiss with Prejudice the Thirteen Indictments on September 25, 2018. Despite the Henrico County circuit court receiving the original motion, they never filed the motion until July 22, 2020, one week after Judge Lee A. Harris ruled on Spanos's motion.
During the two years, Spanos filed several motions, in which order were issued without Spanos requesting hearing dates and missing documents from his filings giving evidence of corruption.
The lawsuits contain over 1500 pages of briefs and evidence, containing a timeline of corruption and evidence that has taken place in the Henrico Circuit Court involving the defendants and the Henrico circuit court clerk Heidi Barshinger.
Several hundred pages of evidence are missing from the Spanos files in the Henrico Circuit Court Clerks office, including the evidence in the extradition request filed to the Greek DOJ. The Henrico Circuit Court Clerk is responsible for the filing of documents and assuring that files are secured from tampering. It is unclear if a lawsuit will be filed against Henrico Circuit Court Clerk Heidi Barshinger.
