EDA versus April Petty civil liability trial heads into its second day

The civil liability trial of April Petty regarding a $125,000 check written to her Ocwen mortgage loan company by Jennifer McDonald in March 2016 as part of the sales process on Petty’s Howellsville Road home property goes into its second day Thursday, July 7. The check, which Petty testified she never saw until three years later when summoned by a special grand jury investigating McDonald’s activities as then FR-WC Economic Development Authority Executive Director, was written on an EDA account.

Petty testified she believed McDonald when told the payment would be made by the purchasers of her home, a Richmond couple Christopher and Tasha Leary. McDonald was serving as Petty’s Real Estate agent in the transaction in her role as an agent in her aunt and uncle’s Campbell Real Estate company.

The $125,000 is part of about $21 million in EDA assets being sought for recovery as part of an alleged embezzlement scheme of McDonald and a number of alleged co-conspirators between 2014 and 2018. McDonald has settled her civil liability case with granting of about $9 million in real estate assets to the EDA. However, that settlement was done with a “no-fault” clause in which the former EDA executive director claimed no wrongdoing regarding the acquisition of those assets.

Both sides in the EDA versus April Petty civil action rested their cases early Wednesday evening after a total of four witnesses appeared, one for plaintiff the “Warren EDA” and three for the defense. Those witnesses were former EDA Administrative Assistant Gretchen Henderson, the plaintiff’s only witness; and Jennifer McDonald, Robin Richardson, and Petty in her own defense.

While responsive to some general questions, when asked Wednesday about any aspect of the Petty home sale, McDonald invoked her 5th Amendment right against potential self-incrimination. McDonald has a criminal trial in the Western District of Virginia federal court on numerous EDA-related charges now scheduled for May 2023.

Before being dismissed around 7:00 p.m. Wednesday, the jury was instructed by Judge Bruce D. Albertson not to discuss the case or read media or social media accounts of it, and to expect to have the case turned over to them for deliberations by the lunch hour or soon after on Thursday.

The trial is expected to reopen at 9:00 a.m. Thursday with additional motions, if any, closing arguments and jury instructions. Royal Examiner will have more detail on the trial, its witness testimony, and a verdict on Petty’s liability to return $125,000 to the EDA at the trial’s conclusion.