By Luke Wiggs
WEPM
MARTINSBURG, W.Va — Wearing an orange jumpsuit and shackled around the wrists, waist, and ankles, a delegate-elect accused of threatening his legislative colleagues had his initial appearance in court.
mugshot of Joseph Desoto
Joseph de Soto also used an oxygen tank during the hearing, demonstrating what his lawyer contended is evidence that home confinement would be best to allow the delegate-elect to attend to a medical condition.
By the end of the hearing, Berkeley County Magistrate David DeHaven had agreed to reduce the bond for Delegate-elect Joseph de Soto, who was expected to be released from jail today pending additional hearings in court.
The judge also agreed to home confinement along with other requirements.
De Soto, who was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates from a Berkeley County district, was arrested this month and charged with making threats of terrorist acts, referring to statements he is accused of making to several delegates. He is listed as a pre-trial felon.
De Soto, 61, of Gerrardstown was elected as a Republican and then changed his registration to Democrat the same week he was arrested. He has not yet been seated to serve in the House of Delegates, which is supposed to gather Jan. 8 for officeholders to be sworn in and to elect the chamber’s leadership positions.
He had been held in the Potomac Highlands Regional Jail on $300,000 cash bond.
His defense attorney, Jake Mills, argued during today’s hearing that the bond should be reduced to to $150,000 cash assurance.
Mills argued that the current cash only bond is an unreasonable financial burden, the largest he had seen set in Berkeley County. He also argued that no evidence exists to suggest that De Soto would not appear in court because he has no prior criminal history and has been cooperative with law enforcement throughout the investigation.
Mills additionally argued that when De Soto was arrested at his home, he did not have a weapon on his person nor was there any evidence of a plan found in De Soto’s residence detailing how he would carry out his alleged threats against current West Virginia lawmakers .
The magistrate granted the motion to lower the bond and ruled that de Soto should remain in home confinement, will not be allowed to possess any firearms, and will maintain the no contact provision of his current bond.
Prosecutor Garrett Robertson called State Trooper Zachary Nine to testify at the hearing. Nine had reviewed the alleged threats over phone, text, and email and said that the statements “stood out as particularly egregious” from similar cases he has observed over more than 20 years of law enforcement.
Several times, Robertson referenced an allegation that de Soto had said “I’ve only just begun…and won’t stop.”
The prosecutor argued that the reduced bond and home confinement will be to De Soto’s benefit and not those who were allegedly threatened.
A criminal complaint specified that threats were made against House Speaker Roger Hanshaw and delegates Michael Hite, Pat McGeehan, Chuck Horst and Bill Ridenour. The complaint also described threats against delegates Wayne Clark and Joe Funkhouser.
The threats are alleged to have happened after a confrontation over whether deSoto had misrepresented key aspects of his biography and after delegates questioned his fitness to serve in the upcoming legislative session. The criminal complaint alleged deSoto became very upset and said he was going to kill delegates.
“When asked what he meant by using the word ‘kill,’ he advised that God had called him to kill them,” according to Trooper Nine’s narrative in the criminal complaint.
