Meeting goes off the rails as Virginia Dem threatens to rip out NAACP activist's heart
Virginia state Del. Joe Morrissey speaks in the state House in January 2014. (YouTube)
February 02, 2022
A local NAACP president is criticizing a Virginia state senator for threatening violence during a meeting about casinos in the state, the Danville Register and Bee reported.
“I’ll rip your heart out of your chest," said state Sen. Joe Morrissey, a Democrat who represents Richmond.
The incident happened behind closed doors with Del. Kim Taylor (R-Chesterfield). It began as a constituent meeting, but it quickly devolved after Morrissey confronted Lafayette Jefferson, the president of the Petersburg chapter of the NAACP.
"Jefferson said in an interview that after he expressed opposition to Morrissey’s bill, which would let Petersburg voters approve a casino in their locality through a referendum, Morrissey confronted Jefferson about a 2019 Facebook post in which Jefferson compared the senator’s relationship with his wife to that between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, who was enslaved at Monticello," said the report.
His new wife was 18-years-old, or possibly even younger when they began the sexual affair in which she was impregnated. Morrissey was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor when he gave the underage girl alcohol and pleaded guilty in 2014. The governor ultimately pardoned him earlier this year.
Morrissey was elected to the state Senate in 2019.
"He put a posting that referred to my wife being concurrently and continually, and I'm going to spell it because there's a lot of little ears around, [raped],” Morrissey said in an interview that confirmed the threats. “And I'll repeat it again. If he ever does anything that threatens my wife or children, that's exactly what I'll do.”
Capitol police had to respond after the argument got heated and threats were made.
"Arriving officers determined that an argument had occurred during a meeting that involved a senator, a delegate and a citizen. The citizen alleged that the senator made a statement that the citizen interpreted as a physical threat,” said Capitol Police chief Col. Anthony S. Pike.
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