Downes withdraws as defense counsel in VFW arson-embezzlement case

The three-day trial scheduled to begin Monday, August 27, in the case of the woman accused of the July 2015 arson of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1860 is likely to be delayed due to the withdrawal of her attorney from the case.

Lesley Rose Deavers – RSW Jail mug shot

Lesley Ann Deavers, 57, was arrested on February 8, 2017, after a year-and-a-half investigation into the July 11, 2015 fire that resulted in an estimated $500,000 in damages and the demolition of the remains of the Colonel Samuel R. Millar headquarters.  Long-time VFW employee Deavers was also charged in relation to a break-in at the VFW eight days prior to the fire in which several thousand dollars was found missing; as well as with embezzlement of as much as $100,000 from the VFW Post over time.

Asked if she had counsel at a February 9, 2017 hearing, Deavers told the court that Front Royal attorney David Downes had represented her in the past.  Downes represented Deavers four days later at a February 13 bond hearing at which time he enabled his client’s release on a $25,000 secured bond on which she remains free pending trial.

However, on August 13 Downes filed a motion to withdraw as Deavers’ attorney.  In that filing Downes wrote that he had been informed that day by the Commonwealth that Deavers was “the subject of a separate criminal investigation where (he) is a material and necessary witness” for the Commonwealth.

The new crime Deavers is under investigation for is securing Downes’ service as her attorney with “an unauthorized check from a third party in the amount of One Thousand Dollars” Downes wrote.

Fire damage to the VFW Post 1860 headquarters – the building’s shell was raised as it was determined a total loss.

While he adds that, “Virginia Rules of Professional Conduct … permits an attorney of record to withdraw if ‘the client has used the lawyer’s services to perpetrate a crime or fraud,’ ” he adds, “The undersigned (Downes) takes no position on the validity of the Commonwealth’s claim that the defendant has used her lawyer’s services to perpetrate a crime or fraud but is now placed in the untenable position of attempting to zealously represent his client while confronted with the proposition that he may be called as an adverse witness against his client.”

Deavers trial has already been delayed twice.  It was originally scheduled for April 25, 2017 and then to begin in March.  The latter delay came on a defense motion for additional time to develop its case.

Of another pending delay, Downes wrote in his motion to withdraw from the case, “Withdrawal can be affected without material prejudice to the client where the Commonwealth does not object to a continuance of the Defendant’s trial conditioned upon a waiver of her speedy trial rights.”

Deavers initially waived that right when the April 2017 trial date was cancelled.

Deavers could face as much as 20 years in prison on each of the arson counts (5-20) and the embezzlement count (1-20) against her.

She will appear in Warren County Circuit Court on the 9 a.m. docket, on Monday, at which time new representation and a new trial schedule will be addressed.