Witness conflict delays gang sentencing — again

Just minutes before a sentencing hearing Thursday for a convicted armed robber and gang participant, defense attorneys discovered a conflict that again prevented case closure.

Windy Dawn Hamlett, 29, will be assigned new attorneys to represent her during sentencing for two armed robberies of Staunton-area hotels on Christmas Eve 2007.

It will be the defendant’s third defense team.

Court-appointed attorneys James Dungan and Eric Laurenzo discovered Thursday that Dungan had previously represented one of prosecutor Phil Figura’s intended sentencing witnesses, Morgan Wright. The witness was a clerk at the Hampton Inn where one of the robberies occurred and testified during trial that she could identify Hamlett by her eyes.

During that trial, Pannell entered Alford pleas, which acknowledged that evidence against her was strong enough to result in a conviction without admitting a role in the crimes. Additional testimony against her came from boyfriend Nathaniel Rivers, an admitted high-ranking Bloods member also convicted in the string of robberies.

Dungan said the witness conflict came up “literally five minutes before we were ready to go ahead with this.” Figura asked for new attorneys so as to not call into question the integrity of the justice system.

Judge Victor V. Ludwig described the case as having a “curious history.”

“I know everyone in this courtroom would like to bring it to closure,” he said before excusing the defense attorneys.

Hamlett’s parents, who were in court Thursday, called the continuance “a shock.”

“We need closure … so does she,” mother Patricia Pannell said.

She also vowed to tell the family’s side of the story and maintained her daughter’s innocence.

Defense attorneys asked for and received a sentencing continuance Oct. 16 while they debated moving for a new trial. They did not make such a motion.

Pannell is in custody at Middle River Regional Jail in Verona.

Her brother, David Pannell, Jr., was murdered in 2005 by a member of the Bloods gang, court records show.