AND THEY’RE OFF: Football season began last week with Brentsville falling to Liberty. Sports, Page 7
August 29, 2018 | Serving Haymarket, Gainesville and Western Prince William County | Vol. 17, No. 35 | www.PrinceWilliamTimes.com | 50¢
Jury selection for Hamilton trial stretches into a third week Attorneys screening about 300 potential panel members By Amanda Heincer Times Staff Writer
Jury selection in the trial of a Woodbridge man charged with killing his wife and a Prince William County police officer in 2016 entered its third week Monday and is expected to stretch into a fourth week, according to attorneys.
Ronald Hamilton, 34, pleaded not guilty earlier this month to multiple charges, including three counts of capital murder, for the shooting deaths of his wife, Crystal Hamilton, 29, and Officer Ashley Guindon, 28. Hamilton also pleaded not guilty to charges that he shot and injured two other police officers, who survived. Hamilton’s trial began Aug. 13 and is expected to last 12 weeks, ending in November. Jury selection was expected to wrap up this week, but prosecutors and defense attorneys now say the process may take a few more days than an-
ticipated, according to court transcripts of the jury selection process. About 300 potential jurors were summoned for the trial. Prosecutors say Hamilton shot his wife inside their home on the 13000 block of Lashmere Court in Woodbridge on Feb. 27, 2016, and then shot three police officers who responded to his wife’s 911 call for help. Guindon, the police officer who was fatally shot, was working her first day as a Prince William County police officer. She had been sworn in the day before. Crystal Hamilton, who worked
for the U.S. Marine Corps’ Wounded Warrior Regiment, was found dead in a bedroom in the house, police said. According to court records, Hamilton spoke to police after the shooting and made statements indicating that he shot the officers. In the first week of jury selection, large groups of jurors were called in to complete screening questionnaires. A few dozen jurors were excused based on their answers to those questions, court records indicate. See HAMILTON TRIAL, Page 2
Independence Nontraditional School opens to students By Karen Chaffraix Times Staff Writer
At Joplin and Aden roads in rural mid-Prince William County sits a new enterprise in nontraditional education. The first of its kind in the state, the Independence Nontraditional School is designed for kindergarten through high schoolers who have not thrived in other schools, pioneering an approach gaining devotees across the country. “It was pie in the sky,” Principal Robert L. “Bob” Eichorn said, describing the proposal he handed Superintendent Steven Walts a decade ago. “It took a county full of willing stakeholders to make this a reality.” Eichorn, who grew up in Northern Virginia and was named Teacher of the Year in 2008 while teaching in Fairfax, has worked in special education for 28 years, the last 10 with alternative education programs in Prince William. Independence Nontraditional replaces and builds upon county programs formerly at New Dominion, New Directions and PACE East. The philosophy behind its unique approach is called the “equity” model, which can be replicated at any kind of school, according to Eichorn. “And it can be scaled based on the needs of a district.” The program’s graduation rate has been 90 percent, he said.
What is a nontraditional student?
“We got away from using the word ‘alternative’ in naming the new school because it is associated with ‘the bad kids,’” Eichorn said during a recent tour through the new school. “The kids [who come into this program] aren’t bad,” he said. They suffer from any number of conditions that require a different approach to educating them. There may be a problem in the family. They might struggle with mental illness or have behavioral or physical challenges. They might be young mothers. They might be homeless. We assess the needs of each child, and we build bonds with them so they feel secure, and supported, and listened to. “It’s not about [tests]. It’s about relationships,” he said. According to no few of those who have experienced Eichorn’s version of the equity model, not
TIMES STAFF PHOTO/KAREN CHAFFRAIX
Independence Nontraditional School Principal Robert L. (Bob) Eichorn stands in the school cafeteria on ribbon-cutting day, Aug. 23. The cafeteria art illustrates the virtues of the wolf pack, the school mascot. This day the chairs are arranged for viewing the stage, which opens on the other side to the gym. Classes began on Monday. only does it work, it is a godsend. Unified in one building, with added programs, staff and services, Independence Nontraditional is the county’s best version yet of Eichorn’s vision, putting into practice a philosophy and methods encouraged by the National Alternative Education Association. Eichorn calls Independence a one-stop shop for best practices in nontraditional education. At the ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday, Aug. 23, Walts called it “equity-cubed.” Earlier in the day, a school secretary sat in a donut-shaped welcome area, in what reminded one of Captain Kirk’s perch on the Star Trek Enterprise. She buzzed visitors in as she fielded phone calls. The school’s goal and vision was posted prominently behind her. The school has three floors and houses three
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sub-schools: elementary, middle and high school. Eichorn’s office opens to a cheerful gymnasium at the back of which sits a stage that also opens to the cafeteria. It cost $36 million to build. The school has a psychologist and a social worker, two registered nurses and two school security officers. Its staff numbers around 100. With lots of glass, the edifice is bright and airy, its myriad details the result of hours of meetings with architects. There is a science lab, a computer lab, a full kitchen and a washer and dryer. “If a child is homeless, no one has to know. We just quietly show them the washer and dryer and invite them to use it.” See NEW SCHOOL, Page 2
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