PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) – The case against a retired Portsmouth police officer charged with voluntary manslaughter will be heard by a judge from outside of the city.
Vincent McClean was arraigned Wednesday in Portsmouth Circuit Court. He’s accused of failing to provide Carmeita “Carly” VanGilder with medical care when she got sick in police custody.
The 28-year-old woman was pregnant when she died in a police holding cell on Dec. 13, 2018. An autopsy showed she died of a heart condition caused by drug use.
McClean wasn’t the only officer on duty when Carmeita VanGilder died, but her mother, Michelle VanGilder, said he was the highest ranked.
“She was vomiting blood. She was vomiting foam. She was apparently having seizures,” Michelle VanGilder said. “There were other people in the holding cells calling out to police officers, saying something was wrong with this individual, she needs help, and yet the only thing she was offered, from my understanding, was a sip of water.”
Judge Brenda Spry announced Wednesday that all Portsmouth Circuit Court judges have recused themselves from McClean’s case. Nathan Chapman, a member of McClean’s defense team, said Spry didn’t give a reason for the recusal, but its standard because he is a retired Portsmouth officer.
Michael Massie, another member of McClean’s defense team, said that the Virginia Supreme Court will appoint a designated judge to oversee the case. Massie hopes that the appointment will happen by McClean’s next court date of Aug. 3.
“We are going to attempt to set a trial date within 30 to 45 days of the appointment of the judge to get it done as soon as possible,” Massie said.
McClean’s indictment on Thursday came within hours of a jury finding him not guilty in a separate voluntary manslaughter case. That charge stemmed from an officer-involved shooting in May 2018 where a 29-year-old man named Willie Marable died.
McClean did not fire the shots that killed Marable but was the supervisor on the scene. Prosecutors argued that McClean didn’t provide him with life-saving measures – a similar allegation made in the Carly VanGilder case.
McClean’s legal team and the Portsmouth Fraternal Order of Police have expressed serious concern over the timing of the second indictment. The FOP called the indictment part of an “underlying vendetta” against Portsmouth police by the Portsmouth Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office.
“I do know that if Vince McClean had known what was going on, Vince McClean would have done something about it,” Mike Holley Sr., a retired Portsmouth officer and member of the FOP, said.
