The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Interview With Defense Attorney Elliott Harding; Dawn Morris Hired Harding To Represent Her

Episode Date: February 7, 2025

The I Love CVille Show headlines: Interview With Defense Attorney Elliott Harding Dawn Morris Hired Harding To Represent Her Louisa Arrests Morris For Selling Weed, Shrooms Morris Initially Faced 162 Years Behind Bars 22-Yr Sentence, All But 15 Months Suspended Morris Owns Higher Education “Head Shop” Did Louisa Co Martyr Morris To Make Example? Louisa County Seized $575K+ From Morris Are VA & Louisa Co Laws Clear Or Ambiguous? Elliott Harding of Harding Counsel, PLLC joined Jerry Miller live on The I Love CVille Show! The I Love CVille Show airs live Monday – Friday from 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to The I Love CVille Show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible, Rumble and iLoveCVille.com.

Good Friday afternoon, guys. I'm Jerry Miller, and thank you kindly for joining us on the I Love Seville Show. It's a pleasure to connect with you guys in downtown Charlottesville through the I Love Seville Network, a network that aggregates and galvanizes every social media and podcasting platform possible, where we live stream content that's local to a market called Central Virginia that is roughly 300,000 people strong, a very dynamic market. And today's show is a live interview, 60 minutes spent with a very talented defense attorney, Elliot Harding, friend of the program, a guy who I've known since he was playing in the trenches for one John Blake at St. Ann's Belfield Academy on the offensive line. He is a mover and shaker in political circles.

He is a known commodity in courtrooms across central Virginia. And frankly speaking, the defense attorney in a court case that is front and center in our community, one that involves Don Morris, the owner of the Higher Education Head Shop brand and chain of stores. The community probably knows Higher Education the most for its location on West Main Street, where if you've been there, inside there, and I certainly have, the personnel and the staff

is friendly and approachable and knowledgeable and and really they don't judge the folks that go in and out of there which is unlike others a lot we're going to cover on today's program Judah with cowers behind the camera will give some attention to an institutional business in this community who were proud to partner with Charlottesville sanitary Supply on East High Street. The Vermillion family owns that location. They own the building. They own the business. Third generation, Andrew Vermillion, is taking over for his father, John Vermillion, on East High Street, online at charlottesvillesanitarysupply.com. Keep the businesses in operation that we want to see survive another 60 years like Charlottesville Sanitary Supply.

Judah, studio camera, and then we will go to a two-shot where you got a hell of a lot of people and you got local media watching you already. Guys, like the show, share the show, ask questions for Elliot Harding, Colin Brehm, B-R-E-H-M. Welcome to the broadcast. A number of lawyers watching the program already. I guess introduce yourself to everybody that's watching the program first, Elliot. Sure. So I'm Elliot Harding. I'm born and raised here in Charlottesville. Love it.

Love your program. Love the promotion of the area. Love everyone in the area. Love the... I'm in the defense attorney. That's why I'm here today. But born and raised here. Love the area. Love the culture.

Love the people. And I guess we're here today. Or at least I was asked to come here today. I'm sure we'll talk about a lot of things, but I know one of the topics that came up yesterday, it's come up probably in the past, it's been in other media reports, is about my client and someone who I consider a saint of a person, and that is Don Morris. I want to preface this with saying that I do, as a criminal defense attorney, I typically do not engage in, well, just as an attorney generally,

I typically do not engage in talking about client cases. But Ms. Morris was chomping at the bit throughout her case to get her story out there. And I spoke with her past couple days about whether or not she was comfortable or wanted some perspective, some advocacy to be out there. And she adamantly said yes. She had wanted to do it a long time. I advised her in my professional way to say that, wait for her sentencing to take place before she goes out there. And that has happened. And now, sadly, she's reporting this evening to Central Virginia Regional Jail. So she's going to lose her platform. She hosts a very popular radio podcast show locally called Coffee Talk, where they talk about a lot of things.

She has very successful business. But I mention it because anyone listening, it's not normal for attorneys to talk about cases. I consider it frowned upon. I try to steer away from it. It's not my... It makes me a little uncomfortable. But in her case, knowing that I have the green light and the blessing and to speak not only about her case, but the issues that underlie her case. I'm here today and I appreciate you giving us the platform to talk about what is going on.

I'll start open-ended. I appreciate your time. He, like I said, I've known this guy for 20 years. A lot of respect for Elliot Harding. Set the table. We have a 51-year-old, a mother with no criminal history. Initially, I mean, goodness gracious, initially facing 162 years behind bars, right? Then a 22-year sentence, all but 15 months suspended. Perhaps that 15 months, and you offer the clarity, will be whittled down even more. The seizure of more than half a million dollars of assets.

Show us yours, Elliot. Yeah, just one caveat. Please. Not that it's a, well, it is a huge deal if you're talking about money. Her ultimate forfeiture was around $432,000. Okay, okay. And a significant portion of that was seized originally. Louisa County came across approximately $90,000 of cash in her home.

That is from a lot of different sources, and there's a lot of issues there in that some of these dollars that were taken were actually, like, antiquated silver certificates that she had collected with her father. She's an only child. She lost her father during the duration of this proceeding. She spoke about it in court. She blames herself a lot because she was only in jail for about a week before a plea.

But during that time, she was the primary caregiver for a father who suffered from dementia. She couldn't care for him during that time. And he ultimately succumbed to a lot of other issues within a short time frame thereafter, almost a month or two after. But she was very close to her dad. And she's an only child her father was her primary caregiver throughout her life and she cared for him and they were very close and they collect a lot of things and some of those things were like antiquated forms of currency and so some of those things collected that were, well, a lot of the currency collected at her home had significant other value to it.

They also froze a bank account and liquidated it. And one of her convictions was falsifying a form for court appointed counsel. In that form, she stated she didn't have any cash assets, but that's because they had seized and taken them all. And she was told that she couldn't have a bond hearing without an attorney present, and she felt pressured that if I need an attorney here to show up, the only way to do it is to go about filling out this form. And she retained counsel quickly thereafter anyway, but the point being is a lot of these charges were not really reflective of the intent of my client, I think.

And I think the court even noted that at sentencing when it came to that issue as far as the form. They were like, oh, you misrepresented your cash assets. And her position was, well, you took it all. But they wanted to seize her father's home well it was her home but the one that her father had resided in and we did negotiate the fact that forcing a transfer of deed it's probably not appropriate given market rates yeah given i don't think it's appropriate for the Commonwealth to get engaged in land speculation when it

comes to something like this. A significant portion of that figure that's recognized in her forfeiture was we agreed that she would forfeit the tax assessed value of the home at the time of her arrest because there was a marketing i mean you talk about real estate every day yeah if house is season 22 and here it is 25 it's probably gone up a significant significant amount you know absolutely and so um she did produce a cashier's check in the amount of 140-some thousand in court the other day. I spoke to the Central Virginian with her approval afterwards.

That's the paper in Louisa County. Yeah, and I noted that there's no evidence that a significant, if they don't have any evidence that any of the cash proceeds that were forfeited or provided were a result of the pop-up market that we'll talk about a little bit more. That was one of my biggest issues with this.

I'll set the table here. Viewers and listeners, we have multiple media outlets watching the program. Colleen Tyler, hello. Bill McChesney, hello. John Blair, hello. Viewers and listeners, let us know your thoughts. We'll put them on the feed. We have media in Richmond watching us right now. I'll set the table. Entrepreneur, 51 years old, Don Morris, higher education, legitimate retail business, the location the community most knows, West Main Street. Yeah. It was her first one. Her first one. In Virginia. Established business. Doing business within the letter of the law.

Ms. Morris in Louisa County in air quotes, pop-up market, farmer's market style fashion, is in front of storage unit in Louisa County. So it was a home. It has a storage unit in the back. Yeah. It's a home that has some sheds that

has some open garage looking storage units in it on it. Right. It's a residence. It's a residence. So there's a lot of misconception out there that this is like a storage business. It's not residence. It's a residence. So there's a lot of misconception out there that this is like a storage business. It's not the case. Right, right.

And it's not that you're misconceiving it. I just want to clarify. It was a home. Right. She, on a select day each week, is selling marijuana, which I have said on yesterday's program, this is being done, and I'm not doxing anything. I'm not calling anybody out. I'm not highlighting this.

This is being done all over the city of Charlottesville. It's being done all over Virginia. All over Albemarle County, within steps of police stations. It's being done. She's selling marijuana. What appears to get her in the crossfire of Louisa County authorities is the mushrooms that were being sold there. I'll get out of your way here in a matter of seconds. The Commonwealth's attorney in Louisa County was quick to emphasize that she was warned in 2022 to stop doing this. You highlighted in media reports

that that warning that happened in 2022 caused confusion with your client because nothing materialized from that warning. And that was almost an encouragement to continue doing what she was doing, which is kind of the argument that you made in court. I'll stop talking. You jump in here.

Weed, mushrooms, on a personal residence, warnings in 2022, and Louisa County and the Commonwealth's attorney. Well, I'll say this. Her business did procure a site at Zion's Crossroads. It's one of her three sites that happens to be on the Louisa County side of the line. They own the land, they own the building, and they decided to engage in business, that business, which is unaffiliated with the conduct you just described. But in light of what happened in 2022, which I'll discuss in a second, I would not be surprised given that one of the conditions of her plea agreement was that she had to take her own efforts to make sure that her business isn't advertised in the county, which is an odd condition.

I thought it was a little overkill personally but she agreed to it given that her business isn't engaged in anything illicit I think it kind of can draw some specter of skepticism as to whether or not it was just one of those things where they just didn't want to do business in Louisa. Now that being said, 2022, she was having, they say weekly, but it's more seasonally. It wasn't like it was all 52 weeks of the year. It was like during the summertime and late fall or early fall, you know, when it's warm and nice post-cultivation season type of thing. They were having an event where on Wednesday evenings, they could come, people could come to the place and different growers could come and yeah, they would sell, which is illegal. She understands that. They would sell cannabis. Now what's odd about the 2022 experience is that law enforcement came, they raided it, they took substances out, they held it, they didn't charge her with anything, they didn't send her in for testing.

And the communication that was given to her wasn't, you can't do this and we'll charge you if you keep it up, which is what I would call a warning. That's a warning. You're going to get charged if you keep doing it. Don't do it again. It was more communicated like, you can't do it like this, which is different, which is to say, don't make it such that anybody could just drive up, right?

Don't make it appear this way. And so they took precautions. They added gates. They didn't publicly advertise it. They ID'd people to make sure that they were of a legal age for consumption. But they kept going. And some people say that the case wouldn't be here if psilocybin wasn't involved i've i've made that comment that's fair that's the mushrooms i can also tell you this

case wouldn't be here if they had just charged her with simple possession or distribution in 2022 2022 okay and she would have she had no interest in advancing she has too much to lose and she's understands i mean she's about to suffer it right she's lost more than most people and um if the idea is well it's still against the law and you're not going to push our poison in the county. Some people have made those comments. The Commonwealth of the Tartars made those comments. Then charge her the first time and you don't end up with this type

of ramification. If you do that, and I'm not saying people should or shouldn't be charged, but what I'm saying is if that's what you're going to adhere to, do it. Because what ends up happening is mixed signals. And that's what happened here is there's some debate, you know, the other side felt like, oh, this is a woman with a master's degree. She's very successful business person. She's very aware. Openly talking about it on a podcast. Talks about things on her podcast.

She knows. And my position is, well, first, her podcast, when she references the laws, came after she had been charged, so she quickly learned after she got charged. But also, when you can grow it, gift it, consume it, possess it, transport it, other people can sell it, the idea that you can't host an event where growers or whatever are there to do it i get that that is what legally does push the line um okay so i'll jump in here he's talking about the gray area that we currently live in in the commonwealth of virginia where an individual in the commonwealth of virginia can grow marijuana and if an individual in the commonwealth of virginia can carry marijuana on their person outside of their personal residence. If you're anywhere in downtown Charlottesville, his office is in downtown Charlottesville.

My office is in downtown Charlottesville. Marijuana is being smoked everywhere in downtown Charlottesville in front of the police station. Marijuana is being smoked right now. You openly seeing folks giving marijuana to people all over the city of Charlottesville, all over Albemarle County. These are facts. There are pop-up markets, farmer's markets all over downtown Charlottesville where weed growers, if you may, are coming to a centralized location at a set day and time. And people, customers are going into these locations and they're buying some of the best marijuana possible at very fair and reasonable rates.

It's legitimately a market. The Commonwealth of Virginia, marijuana right now is in a very gray area. We'll talk about that on the show because of how marijuana has been politicized, the dysfunctionality with politics and marijuana. Yonkin, General Assembly, we'll get to that in a matter of moments. The mushrooms, Elliot Harding, the mushrooms here.

Well, I mean, the mushrooms, first of all, caveat, yeah, they are Schedule I. But there are states that have passed it, but in Virginia right now, there's a bill that's going through for the sake of testing it for having some legitimate medicinal values. And this was said in court, until the laws do change, it is what it is. But what we're not talking about is cocaine, heroin, meth, fentanyl, like PCP, the drugs that put people under the ground. And I'm not saying that there aren't experiences

where someone got high on weed and was bad on the roads, right? Drinking and driving, smoking and driving, these are things that are not permissible. We know that. It does alter your behavior. Mushrooms, I'm not aware of a lot of studies or facts that come out there and say that people die on them, but I realize that it can have some, if you overconsume or you're predisposed to genetics with schizophenia. I get that it causes hallucinogenic concepts if you overconsume. And so we recognize that mushrooms are not uh i don't i don't know how to get into it you there's also concepts of microdosing psilocybin

has been studied to help with ptsd and it's been studied to help with anxiety one of the most famous people in the world aaron rogers routinely talks about microdosing. Microdosing is becoming part of the 2025 American vernacular. Yeah. And so, you know, at the sentencing, they acted like it was the largest drug haul of all time. They described it that way. I'm honestly shocked if that's the case. In Louisa County history, they described it that way. I'm a little disappointed if that's the case. And what I mean by that is Louisa's right on Route 64. If you're trying to get from Fredericksburg to Charlottesville, you've got to cut through it. At the end of the day, it's not a small county in the middle of nowhere.

If this is the largest drug haul in the history of Louisa, I mean, maybe that's good. I don't know, but I just question that. I do know it's probably the record forfeiture of money. Put that in perspective. $430,000 to be forfeited in a criminal proceeding, unless it's a white-collar crime or you're rolling up on a massive... Like, when I say rolling up, I mean you're finding that much cash,

to liquidate people's money market accounts and force them to bring a cashier's check for the difference in value of a piece of real estate, that could have been litigated in a separate civil asset forfeiture proceeding. The issue is that it was a condition of a plea. Put that in perspective, what that means for the layman. If you don't accept that term of the plea...

We're going after more years. Well, we're going to trial, in which case your exposure is way higher because you don't get acceptance of responsibility, your sentencing guidelines increase, and you're looking at higher time. And so it's not to say that she wasn't voluntarily and willing to do it. It's that we just wanted it to be taken into strong consideration in the fact that she shouldn't be behind bars.

And honestly, the only reason she could afford to do it was because she maintains a completely legitimate enterprise with three different institutions, and she's been a good... She's been successful. Yeah, she's smart with her money. Yeah. Kimmy, CrossCamp giving Elliot Harding some props.

Logan Wells-Claylow watching the program. Vanessa Parkhill, Lord and Ivy watching the program. A lot of comments coming in, which I will get to in a matter of moments. David Bartholomew, Andrew Eagleberger, Elizabeth Blake says hello. A lot of folks that are giving you some props on the program here. Why did Louisa County martyr your client? I think... First, is that the right word, martyr? I don't know. I hope people see her that way. Look, cannabis, marijuana, but cannabis at large, which includes things like hemp and other things, has maintained its own subculture for almost 100 years now. But anyone who is sympathetic to the idea that it has been over-penalized

should view Ms. Morris, and I hope she's the last one. I wish this didn't happen to her, but I hope she is recognized as someone who, martyr, I don't know, I mean, as much as she might have championed those causes, I don't think she would have been having this pop-up market if she knew that she was going to be put away. And so to call her a martyr, meaning typically when I think of a martyr, I think of someone who knows the consequences and does it anyway. I don't

think she expected this, and I don't think she would have done it had she known that it would have been this way. Okay, okay, I'll... If that makes sense. And I'm not clarifying for your sake. No, no, no. I'm clarifying for her sake. No, no, I totally think you clarified it well.

Rosa Parks knew what she was doing when she got on the bus. Right. You're saying Dawn Morris did not know what was coming down the potential punishment pipeline with what she was doing behind a personal residence. Right. She wouldn't have done it. Okay. I know that for a fact.

And I also know that ignorance is not a defense to the law, and anyone out there should know that. But I also know no one was harmed by her. There's no report that anything she ever sold wasn't to anyone who was a knowledgeable buyer who went there on purpose. Sold them to adults. Previously consumed.

Yep, no minors. And, and... This is not fentanyl, folks. We're dealing with organics. Right, from the earth. And as I said in court, I said it's counterculture. I mean, at the end of the day,

she's a vegetarian. This is a woman who very much is aware of what goes into her body. She monitors things. She's very, like, about the earth. I mean, she's not a hippie, you know, the old school sense of the word. But this is a woman who did 800 hours of

community service going in she founded the boy scouts in louisa she um is in order for her son to have a troop or whatever they call that but i think that's what they call it that's true yeah she she was a leader in that regard um and it wasn't just for her own son. And I'll tell you, this is a woman who, when it came out in court, she'd been the victim of domestic abuse. She suffers from her own anxiety and PTSD in that respect. And she came to Virginia, moving back to Virginia from Colorado, which, mind you, has probably a more, well, definitely has a more progressive view

on these issues than Virginia does. Probably the most progressive in the country. Right. Moved here to get away from a bad domestic situation and came here with great intentions. I'll throw this to you here. I'm going to change the word martyr. I'm going to change, and comments are coming in very quickly here.

I'm going to change the word martyr. Why was Don Morris made, why did the Commonwealth's attorney in Louisa County show intentionality? Why were they so intentional with their pursuit of punishment with your client? Someone on your Facebook page, Colin, is it Brem? Hi, Jerry, long-time listener, first-time commenter. As somebody who tuned in with no background information about this case, the fact that so many details of these charges seem convoluted, almost unrelated to one another, like a build-a-bear case, they just keep stuffing things in. Would I like to know why so much of the

case doesn't seem related to what she was initially charged with, and what should people do if they're experiencing something similar? I want to use that as a springboard to what I'm going to ask here. Why was she made an example of to such levels of extreme? I mean, ultimately, the bottom line is we live in a commonwealth where every jurisdiction is different. And Louisa County, anyone who's been around the criminal justice system for at least 15 years knows that it's relatively stricter than most. And maybe it was the fact that they came on scene in 22 and she kept going. That's what they'll cite.

They'll say that she was flippant and almost kind of giving them the finger by continuing to engage. That's a respectable position. It's at least an understandable position i take issue with how that actually went down maybe it's because she chose to put her business her unrelated oh well i say unrelated her business in louisa granted it's a vape shop it's what you called yesterday a head shop it's one that does play into the culture of cannabis consumption but these are on

every corner yeah they're everywhere and they're completely legal there's nothing wrong with them right but the idea that anyone would ever want to consider consuming marijuana I think is an issue for the chief law enforcement officers in Louisa. And they don't want that to be promoted. And she does that for a living, in theory. And the reason it's now legal is because millions of people agree with her. Of all parties, medicine agrees with her. I'm not saying that you should run out and just get high, but the point is that it's not deserving,

that cannabis is not necessarily deserving of the prohibitionist mindset that's existed for 100 years. Well, and historically, and anyone who watches this program knows that i routinely back the blue on this show and and and and this particular circumstance i i i have pause with that backing with what louisa has done well i back i back the blue too i know you do but the blue only does what the laws say to do. It's not their fault that the commercial sale of cannabis is illegal. It's Richmond's fault. Yep. And we're going to get to that in a moment. We got a question from John Blair here that we're going to get to that's tied to that specifically. Historically, arrests and prosecutions and

convictions tied to cannabis, tied to marijuana, have significantly impacted the black and brown community at a much more prolific clip than the white community. And those are just facts. And one of the positives of where we were heading with the legalization of cannabis consumption and retail of cannabis was it was going to create a more even playing field, more parity, more fairness when it came to how the law saw folks who bought and sold cannabis, which is being done every day. This is being done in upper class households. This is being done in upper-class households. This is being done in middle-class households, lower-class households. Whether you're white, black, Puerto Rican, or Haitian, folks are smoking weed. And it's impacted black and brown at a much greater clip than it's impacted white. And that's a travesty here. I want to go to Mr. Blair's comment on LinkedIn, which I think is just a great comment that, frankly, I would not have thought to ask. So thank you, John Blair.

He says, first tell Elliot I said hello. He says, I'm curious, after a new governor is elected and takes office in 2026, does Mr. Harding have a plan to pursue a pardon for his client? Well, she'll be out probably before thanksgiving of this year so 15 months suspended that that no 15 months active yeah it translates to if so virginia a couple years ago passed or a few years ago passed the expansion of the earned sentence credit system, which is to, there are exceptions for like very violent or sexual offenders where they don't get this added benefit. But for someone like Ms. Morris, no criminal record, totally non-violent issues. She's inclined and will, unless something crazy happens, which won't, she'll get a third off of her time. And so that looks like a 10 month

sentence instead of 15. Is that 10 months straight? Starting this evening. 10 months straight in jail. Yeah. And she did two weeks or so going into her sentencing. So she'll get credit for that. So she's looking to get out in about nine and a half months which will be around thanksgiving um or before hopefully um but yeah so sorry to interrupt i just wanted to clarify like you were taught the question was do we expect to ask for a pardon uh a pardon maybe it would require an actual straight up pardon is different than a commutation of a sentence and and I know Mr. Blair knows that. Granted, I think she'd be warranted to ask for either, depending on the groundswell of support that she might get.

I think a pardon could be achieved. I think a sentence commutation would be appropriate, and that having 22 years over her head and that duration of probation is probably not, when I say over her head, it can be revoked. She could be sentenced to more should she violate the law in the future and violate her conditions of probation. It's just that she won't be pulling that right now. I think it would, yeah, I expect that she will want to pursue that. Troy Robinson says, hi, Jerry. I just want to say Elliot Harding has always given a voice to the voiceless. Holly Foster watching Henrico. We have five different media outlets watching

Elliot Harding on the program this afternoon. Does Ms. Morse continue as the proprietor and the owner of the higher education brand? Yes. Okay. I encourage people to go to her stores. Okay. Go buy a T-shirt. If you don't want to smoke marijuana that's not your lifestyle, go buy her a T-shirt.

So she will continue? I hope she becomes the premier brand. While she's in jail, she'll keep running it. Well, she has partners. Right. I know she does. Yeah. Okay. But I hope she comes out ahead on this. God works in interesting ways. And one of the ways God could potentially work, a defamation lawsuit. Well, yeah. I'll just say it. Axios defamed Ms. Morris, and we'll see how that shakes out. But it's cut and dry. What does that mean, Mr. Harding? It means that they, well, I'm sorry.

They didn't defame Ms. Morris. They defamed her business and the business that she's a partner of, and that is higher education. Axios is a media platform, national media platform. Yeah, they misreported and said that these raids took place at her business and that her businesses were shut down and that she was selling drugs out of the business. And she suffered in actual losses,

and they're both actual in that you can diagram the time frame and the traffic of customers. But people would walk in and say, I'm surprised that you're still open. I thought you were closed. It's ridiculous. Her business had nothing to do with this. I get why there's a lazy corollary,

but for a media outlet to say that her business was raided and they found that these markets were taking place there and that they shut down as a result is just false and defamatory by definition. And so we will be pursuing that. And there might be other outlets, too. And what does that look like, that pursuit? A civil lawsuit or a demand. I don't know how that will shake out. I mean, it's so black and white when you read the articles that are still out there. I think it was from December 6th.

And he's got the receipts paper about people. Yeah, I mean, they're still out there. I mean, when you do something of that, I mean, it's black and white. It is what it is. It takes place. That's how defamation works. Like, you can do a retraction, but it doesn't hurt. It doesn't help the last two months of negative sales and the permanent reputation damage. Which other outlets misrepresented this story?

I do know that there were some, I forget the stations. I'm not going to name them because I might be wrong. I don't want to engage in my own inaccuracies. But I do remember the day after she pleaded guilty driving through town and hearing the teaser for a news story, people saying that they found these at her business and that her business was the one that was where the markets happened. That's not true. That's equivalent of saying that someone who owns five convenience stores is convicted of distilling out of their home bootlegging that they must have been selling all the illicit alcohol out of the five 7-elevens it's like no 7-eleven had nothing

to do with it right and i use that as an example that's a good example but um she has partners it's a legitimate business and i've had to reiterate. In fact, it's sentencing. It's something that I wouldn't normally do, but knowing that media was present and how it had been previously reported, I told her I'm going to clarify this. On a pre-sentence report, they tried to check a box saying that the locus of this activity was at business instead of residence,

and I had to clarify that. Now, for the substantial value of how that impacts a sentencing event, it's nothing. Like, the judge doesn't care if that box is accurate, and he asked me, I believe, why does this matter, and I had to clarify there in court, knowing that there were media there, saying if they're going to run with this story, they need to know that this was not out of business. This was, they need to be accurate because there's significant monetary impact for a brand that's completely legal and legitimate. How does this, how do these circumstances play out differently if they played out in Jim Hingely's court or Joe Plantania's court as opposed to Rusty McGuire's? I think I'll be... Jim Hingely's Commonwealth's attorney, Valmore County, Joe Plantania's attorney, Charlottesville. I'm going to be very respectful to Jim and Joe and to Rusty. Okay. Two of the three listen to the show often.

And maybe Rusty will hear about this too. I would imagine he will. I think all of these folks' records and positions on these issues speak for themselves. I think that they address these things when they run for office. They've been asked a lot of these things. I'm not aware of this type of level of prosecution in Charlottesville and Albemarle for this type of activity here in the Charlottesville-Albemarle radius since those guys have been in charge, but I'm not to say that they're going to sit there and advocate or be okay with... I'm not going to sit here and say that they would just turn a blind eye to psilocybin.

I'm not going to say... They speak for themselves, and every charging decision is independent. So I will say that they run on progressive platforms. That's what they say. Rusty McGuire runs on a very conservative platform. His brother's now the congressman for the 5th District, and his brother's openly against these things, and Rusty is too. And that's fair. Those are their positions, and that's what the people voted for, and that's the nature of a republic, right? I mean, that's who you vote for. He's been unopposed, and that's his choice.

The people of Charlottesville and Almar apparently want folks who maintain a different position, and unfortunately for Ms. Morris, I think she felt or understood that there was a degree of uniformity in things. And given that her first higher education store and the nature of the culture in a university town versus Louisa, I think she took them, I think she misdiagnosed the lay of the land. I can't argue with that. I think she would agree with that. I can't.

I think she would. Joe Thomas, the award-winning broadcaster, says, Elliot Hart, a great lawyer. He's watching the program right now. Also note, her Zion's Crossroads store, she told me last night, is her most productive. Of course it is. It's got the least amount of competition. It's got an extremely captive audience. It's got a massive

neighborhood right there and it's on 64. And she owns the land. And owns the building. Of course it is. So much I want to cover here. Governor Youngkin's role in all this. The General Assembly's role in all this. The General Assembly needs to finish what they started and there will continue to be personal sacrifices suffered whether it's on the roadside with a guy who's maybe going 15 over and next thing know, where's the label for your marijuana on you? And by the way, marijuana and a firearm by itself, even if the marijuana is legal, you can't have it with a firearm. People think, oh man, you must be a drug dealer.

In reality, both of those things are very legitimate, normal things to have. I'm just saying, like, they need to finish their job in legalizing the market. As to Governor Youngkin's role, I'm disappointed that he continues to signal that he won't be the champion of the market because I think it would really give him a leg up in the eyes of partisan changes. A hundred percent. Donald Trump has even said that when, so Florida recently had marijuana on the ballot. I don't remember the specifics as to whether it was for,

I forget how they were trying to open up the market in some form or fashion, but they have a more referendum-based system. And because he has the Mar-a-Lago property, they asked him about it. And he openly said, look, I don't think people need to run off and get high, but I do think we're putting people away for it.

He supported the pro-cannabis referendum in Florida. I don't know why Governor Youngkin is not trying to be a champion of markets and revenue. We live in a time where the federal system is cutting support, which I think we have a federal deficit issue. I understand why that's happening. But when you're looking to try to shore up Virginia's books to fill the void, I think this is seven-year-old data now, but I think Virginia estimated it would be saving $60 million in the correction system and probably revenue generating around $300 to $400 million if it was a legalized market? I mean, from a budget standpoint alone,

I'm disappointed that this probably won't be the administration that gets it done. I mean, and I'll speak to that. Governor Yonkin, former co-CEO of the Carlyle Group, one of the most significant private equity firms in the world, a staunch capitalist, Governor Yonkin, 400 million net worth, roughly, Governor Youngkin. The legalization of cannabis could be one of the arrows in his quiver with his legacy, his political future, should he choose to make this a priority. The unfortunate circumstances,

cannabis is being leveraged like a political pawn. And folks like Ms. Morris are the ones that are being caught in the crossfire of that leverage and of that gamesmanship. I'm shocked that Youngkin is not doing anything along these lines. I'll throw this to you here. Mrs. Morris, Ms. Morris's legacy moving forward. I think we're going to go back and look as time progresses as this case and Ms. Morris as one of those turning points with all this. I hope so. Is she aware of that? Does she think of that? She stakes no ego or claim to trying to turn herself into a champion for it, but knowing her spirit and her platforms

and the community was... I've never submitted more character letters in support of someone i had to cut it in half and it was still more than anyone i've ever done it was she had over 58 letters in support and i could have done twice as much but i ended up submitting half that for other reasons but at the end of day, she's beloved. The people that know her know she's a good person. She has a good brand in her business. And suffering what she's going through, she likes to see positive changes. Anytime there's an obstacle, I would not be surprised if she embraces advocacy in some form or fashion. I hope she does because she'll be able to speak to it more personally than most people.

And ultimately, I hope the laws change. I hope the laws change. I hope the laws change. Now, I'm not saying it's going to turn into a world where anybody can just set up a market and sell. So what she engaged in very well may not be the picture that is painted with the perfect legislation. But in a world where dispensaries are allowed, I hope that her conviction is not a barrier to entry. I think she'd be a phenomenal owner of such. I think she would run it the right way. I hope that her conviction is not a barrier to entry. I think she'd be a phenomenal owner of such. I think she would run it the right way. I hope that a pardon is given should felon status be a barrier. I hope that there's a degree of equity given in that and recognizes that you shouldn't be barred from being able to be a dispensary license holder in the future

just because of a conviction of this nature. And I know that she'll be a champion for that. She's already spoken to it. You know, my words here, you may be looking at the 2025 version, Don Morris, of Rosa Parks with cannabis here. And I know that Elliot made the point with Ms. Parks, she was intentional with her actions with the bus. Was it in Montgomery, Alabama there?

Ms. Morris, maybe there was not that intentionality, and I butcher that word. But I think when history speaks, Ms. Morris may have that kind of impact with cannabis and Commonwealth history. I want to close with this quote. This really extremely resonated with me. Opine on this, if you could. Mr. Harding's quote for the media here, and I'll read it verbatim. I hope Louisa makes good use of Miss

Morris's hard-earned funds and has a degree of humility in that they leveraged a woman's liberty as a means of getting money with no evidence that it came from anything other than legitimate efforts, end quote. That will stick with me maybe for the rest of my life here. I sincerely mean that. I mean, that's what happened. I'm not saying this case was about money. I don't think they need it. Louise is a county with fine revenue stream. But they paraded out vacuum- bags at a sentencing as if the judge

had never seen psilocybin mushrooms or marijuana before. They made a purposeful display of calling the officer from across the room to collect the check. They had a press release the day of her plea. Sent to everybody. Called it a record. They're proud of it. Yep. And when I say a degree of humility, just recognize there's always a human on the other side of this equation. Multiple.

There's collateral consequences. There's a father who didn't have her daughter there to care for him who passed away. She has an elderly aunt with no children to take care of her who's about to go into a home instead of move to Louisa so Don can care for her. Her son didn't have his only parent in his life show up to his grad school graduation because of this. It was emotional on the stand. Phenomenal witness. Sad that that's the experience that he has to go for, but he knows her better than anybody and is a testament to her character in that he's a FUMA grad,

got a master's in engineering from Rhode Island School of Technology, And it's a testament to her character in that he's a FUMA grad, got a master's in engineering from Rhode Island School of Technology, never was exposed or dealt with substance issues, no criminal history. That is, to me, your children are typically always the sign of care and genuine discipline and priorities. And her son is definitely a byproduct of who she is. And she's very proud of that. And I think Dawn Morris, once this is all said and done, is going to be a positive and has been generally a positive contribution to society. And it's sad. I'm personally upset about the outcome. Could have been worse, I guess. But when I say humility, I just think that it shouldn't be lost that she voluntarily gave up way more money than they could have ever tied to

anything illicit as a means of coming to this conclusion. And that's the nature of the deal. So she knows that too, right? I mean, she knows that too. She's not upset about it. It's just, let's not parade it around like we took down the cartel. Yeah. You know? That's how I felt when I said that. You would have thought that you... It was Pablo Escobar and Louisa County.

Popped MS-13, you know? Right. That's how I was a little perturbed, but it's okay. I get it. I don't mean anything. I'm professional. Those guys in that office, I get it.

But, uh, just exercise a degree of humanity. That's all I'm saying. Elliot Harding guys, the Friday edition of the, um, I love civil show.

We appreciate your time. Thank you. Thanks for, thank you for highlighting this. I think she wanted to do so for a long time, and based on my advice, I told her not to because you never know how it's going to shake out in court. Absolutely. We're always welcome, always willing to host and welcome Ms. Morris as well. Elliot Harding is damn good at what he does, folks.

And he is someone, as Troy Robinson has said, who is often a voice for the voiceless. For the viewers and listeners that did not have their comments or questions heard, we have spent an hour with Elliot today, and this is the end of the show. We're grateful for the viewership and the listenership. I'm grateful for Elliot's time, for Judah Wickhower behind the camera. And you saw what the I Love

Seville show is about. This is what we do Monday through Friday, 1230 to 130. Long form content about storylines in Central Virginia that are important to all of us. Enjoy the weekend. We will see you guys Monday at 1230. So long. Thank you.