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In a scathing letter to elected officials published by ARL Now, Rose Kehoe urges them to withdraw support for the Commonwealth’s Attorney, Parisa Dehghani-Tafti, who she says should've charged the young driver as an adult. Dehghani-Tafti is up for reelection as Commonwealth’s Attorney for Arlington County and Falls Church.
The teen boy who struck Washington-Liberty High School senior Braylon Meade near the intersection of Old Dominion Drive and Williamsburg Boulevard, was found to have been under the influence of alcohol and THC at the time of the 12:30 a.m. crash on Nov. 11, 2022, authorities found.
He was convicted of involuntary manslaughter, but according to Kehoe, harsher punishment trying the driver as an adult should've been sought by Dehghani-Tafti.
Daily Voice placed an information request to Dehghani-Tafti Wednesday afternoon, April 12.
"As the Commonwealth’s Attorney, Ms. Dehghani-Tafti has repeatedly claimed that focusing on victims is a governing priority. Our experience with her could not have been further from the truth," Kehoe wrote.
"The manner in which she conducted herself when meeting with our family combined with her directives to her line prosecutors handling the case infused the certainty of our belief that, from the very beginning, her only concern was not about justice for Braylon, but about ensuring a positive and productive future for the defendant.
"Because of that defendant’s dangerous decisions that night, we have been cruelly robbed of the ability to plan any future with our son."
Kehoe noted the "final insult" from the prosecutor was her absence at the final sentencing hearing.
"She did not sit in the courtroom to hear Judge Michael Chick sentence the defendant to only one year in the detention facility, despite the defendant’s history of alcohol and THC abuse, despite him driving 94 miles per hour down Old Dominion Drive, despite him only applying his brakes for one half of one second, and who lied to the police after the devastating crash," the grieving mother said. "She did not have to hear our family give our victim impact statements about our grief that continues to come in waves and will for the rest of our lives. That she could not be moved to appear in the courtroom to oversee the resolution of the criminal case involving the death of a child in her community speaks volumes."
Kehoe further detailed her belief in the need for reform in Arlington's criminal justice system, imploring officials to withdraw support for the prosecutor who she says robbed her family.
"In the case of Braylon Meade, we have no doubt that Ms. Dehganti-Tafti’s political rigidity on the issue of refusing to charge juveniles as adults is what governed this case," Kehoe states. "This was a campaign slogan that worked to drive voters to the polls in 2019 but when applied in the real world of running her office, it stripped our voice away from us and denied a meaningful discussion on how to seek justice for Braylon."
Kehoe notes her family was treated with empathy and respect from Arlington police, and that the line attorneys were "well-meaning.
"These amazing public servants need appropriate leadership from the Commonwealth’s Attorney to carry out the legal obligations of the office," she said. "As we went through this process, it was abundantly clear to our family that such leadership is solely lacking."
A scholarship fund has since been launched in honor of Braylon.
"The stands at a typical Washington-Liberty (WL) High School basketball game are packed as students and parents alike cheer on the blue and gray," it reads. "Braylon Meade was on track to be on the receiving end of a lion’s share of that energy this year in what would have been his senior season. Though he is gone, he still has many fans.
"Among his biggest ones? His parents, Kris and Rose. 'There wasn’t anyone Braylon wouldn’t give time to,' says Kris. 'There wasn’t one person he would disregard. He touched the lives of ‘jocks’, he touched the lives of ‘nerds’, he touched the lives of younger kids through tutoring and basketball…He touched the entire community.'"
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