RICHMOND, Va. — The parents of Charles Byers said they were "profoundly disappointed" that legislation introduced in response to their son's death was punted to next year by a group of state lawmakers.
While the measure aimed to implement a failsafe when breakdowns occur in the intersections of the mental health and criminal justice systems, one delegate argued the proposed solution didn't address the core of the problem.
Byers was shot and killed by Chesterfield Police in 2023 while he was under an active temporary detention order (TDO), which meant he was required to be held in a psychiatric facility for up to 72 hours.
But as CBS 6 uncovered, 36 hours before he died, Byers was arrested by Richmond Police and removed from Chippenham Hospital's Tucker Pavilion for kicking a nurse. Inspection records revealed he had not yet been seen by a psychiatrist and medical staff never communicated his TDO status to the arresting officer.
Byers then appeared before a Richmond magistrate on an assault charge. Unaware of the TDO, the magistrate released Byers back into the community despite the TDO being initially authorized by a Richmond magistrate.
“If that magistrate had known that he'd been removed from the hospital illegally, because he wasn't supposed to be removed when he was under a temporary detention order, he would have gotten the help he needed to get better," Byers' mother Peggy Byers said.
With that belief, Del. Debra Garnder (D-Chesterfield) carried a bill that would require magistrates to attempt to obtain TDO information before making a bail determination.
“While there are many tragic aspects to his death, possibly closing this loophole and requiring this information to be provided may prevent another family from experiencing this," Gardner said while presenting the bill to a General Assembly subcommittee.
Del. Vivian Watts (D-Fairfax) spoke favorably of the legislation. She highlighted how currently, the law only directs magistrates to consider a person's criminal history but makes no mention of their potential mental health history.
“The fact that there may be something more than just the person's criminal history is now noted in the code, and the direction of the code is to at least be aware of it, at least try to ask it, at least bring it forward if you know it," Watts said.
But Del. Patrick Hope (D-Arlington) argued it should not be the court's responsibility to ensure people subject to mental health orders get the proper assistance.
“What I'm concerned about is this is not the solution. And the reason why I say that — there's a lot of different things to this one scenario where the system failed. And I think going upstream where it shouldn't have happened is the individual should not have left the hospital," Hope said.
The subcommittee ultimately decided to carry the bill over to 2027 and request further study into the issue, meaning no action will be taken on it this year.
Following that outcome, the Byers family penned a letter to Del. Hope, saying while they agree that the primary responsibility should be placed on the hospital, this was a "both/and situation."
“Judicial officers can be a last line of defense against a lack of communication, apathy, or negligence," the family wrote.
In a statement, Del. Gardner said she was disappointed the bill didn't pass this year but committed to continuing to work on it during the off-session "to ensure that no other family in the Commonwealth has to go through what the Byers family experienced."
"The shooting of Charles Byers was extremely tragic, and it is imperative that we continue to try to find solutions to prevent tragedies like these from happening in the future. We’re proud of the work we have done to bring awareness to his story and highlight some of the system’s failures when it comes to dealing with those suffering with mental health issues who enter the system," Gardner said.
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