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Chester Brown gets new attorneys

by | Jan 23, 2026

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(Courtesy/Adobe Stock)

Will trial be elsewhere in Doris Critzer murder case?

A Virginia Public Defender Office has agreed to represent Chester Brown, who has been charged with first-degree murder and strangulation in the death of longtime Washington resident Doris Critzer. 

“It looks like the public defenders have taken the assignment,” Judge Robert Smith said in Rappahannock County Circuit Court last Thursday. 

Ryan Ruzic and Paul Fore, attorneys from the Public Defender Office in Warrenton, were assigned to Brown’s case. Ruzic is chief public defender of that office and president of the Fauquier County Bar Association, according to its website. A Public Defender Office provides counsel for people who cannot afford to hire their own lawyer.

The Public Defender Office was appointed after Brown’s former attorney Ryan Rakness, a seasoned trial attorney and former assistant commonwealth’s attorney in Orange County, asked to be dismissed following requests in open court by Brown for new counsel. 

“[I] can’t adequately represent him,” Rakness said at a December hearing. “Our communication has broken down.”

Fore, who appeared in court with Brown on Thursday, said he had just received discovery the day before — evidence and information from the prosecution — and had spent over six hours already combing through the documents, with many more still to review. 

Critzer, 74, was found deceased in her home in August 2023, and her death was ruled a homicide shortly thereafter. 

Brown, 65, also previously from Washington, was arrested and charged with the crime in August 2025 after DNA evidence was discovered that the prosecution says ties Brown to the scene. 

Brown had been named a “person of interest” early in the investigation. He was found guilty in 2024 of several gun charges tied to the theft of a revolver belonging to Critzer. 

Where will the trial be?

Smith and the attorneys also brainstormed how to handle the weeklong jury trial scheduled March 30-April 3, and whether a change of venue was needed. 

In previous court proceedings, Goff suggested calling potential jurors from Rappahannock the Friday before the trial and if a Rappahannock jury could not be seated, a Fauquier County jury pool would be lined up to appear on Monday morning. 

The judge challenged that that may not be the best option, and said he had “done some research,” and Fauquier jurors may have to travel up to 45 miles each way to appear in court each day of the trial. Among his suggestions was moving the trial to Fauquier or Loudoun County. 

Goff pointed out that witnesses, family members and law enforcement called to appear in the case would need to travel further. Goff then shared a story about appearing late for a trial in Loudoun County after a tomato truck turned over in front of him on Route 15, blocking the road.

“Leesburg on a good day is an hour and 15 minutes from where we’re standing,” Goff said. “Fauquier would be best … at least for the commonwealth.

“The less we can have long distance, the more likely we can have promptness,” Goff continued.

The judge said “on February 19, we probably need to have that set,” when Brown and his attorneys next appear in Circuit Court.

Author

  • Ireland Hayes

    Ireland joined Foothills Forum as a full-time reporter in 2023 after graduating from the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication with a degree in journalism and minor in music. As a student, she gained valuable experience in reporter and editor positions at The Red & Black, an award-winning student newspaper, and contributed to Grady Newsource and the Athens Banner-Herald. She spent three years as an editorial assistant at Georgia Magazine, UGA’s quarterly alumni publication, and interned with The Bitter Southerner.
    Growing up in a small town in Southeast Georgia, Ireland developed a deep appreciation for rural communities and the unique stories they have to tell. She completed undergraduate research on news deserts, ghost papers and the ways rural communities in Georgia are being forced to adapt to a lack of local news. This research further sparked her interest in a career contributing to the preservation of local and rural news.
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By Ireland Hayes

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Ireland joined Foothills Forum as a full-time reporter in 2023 after graduating from the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication with a degree in journalism and minor in music. As a student, she gained valuable experience in reporter and editor positions at The Red & Black, an award-winning student newspaper, and contributed to Grady Newsource and the Athens Banner-Herald. She spent three years as an editorial assistant at Georgia Magazine, UGA’s quarterly alumni publication, and interned with The Bitter Southerner. Growing up in a small town in Southeast Georgia, Ireland developed a deep appreciation for rural communities and the unique stories they have to tell. She completed undergraduate research on news deserts, ghost papers and the ways rural communities in Georgia are being forced to adapt to a lack of local news. This research further sparked her interest in a career contributing to the preservation of local and rural news.