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Judge grants, denies motions in Chester Brown’s case

by | Aug 28, 2026

focus on hammer, group of files on judge table covered with dust - concept of pending old cases or work at judicial court.
(Courtesy/Adobe Stock)

Before Chester Brown made the decision Aug. 12 to represent himself at his upcoming murder trial, his attorney, Paul Fore, filed over 20 motions asking Rappahannock County Circuit Court Judge Robert Smith to grant them on Brown’s behalf. Here’s how the judge ruled:

Granted Brown’s requests

  • Smith granted a motion to allow Brown to appear in “non-jail” attire, which drew no objection from Commonwealth’s Attorney Art Goff.  
  • Smith partially granted a motion to prohibit the use of the word “victim” during the trial to describe Doris Critzer, whose death is the subject of the trial. Smith said he would allow the word “victim” to be used, but not the phrase “murder victim.” “She’s a victim of something; I saw the pictures,” Smith said.

Denied Brown’s requests

  • Smith denied Brown’s motion requesting a special prosecutor since Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney David Walls represented Brown in a 2021 sexual battery and indecency case. Walls testified that he “didn’t remember that particular case” where he represented Brown until he was reminded this year, and has had no involvement with the current case against Brown.
  • Smith partially denied a motion to prohibit three women — Claire Byram, Constance O’Donnell and Debbie Schaper — from testifying, with the defense arguing their testimony would be “more prejudicial than probative.” Smith ruled testimony from Byram — a woman Brown attempted to visit the night Critzer was killed — and O’Donnell — the clerk at Baldwin’s Store the night of the murder — could stand, but barred any mention by them of Brown’s prior sexual acts unrelated to the case. The prosecution agreed not to call Schaper as a witness. It was not specified what Schaper’s testimony would be. 
  • Smith said he would “wait until trial” to make a determination on what photos may not be allowed. Brown’s attorney had requested that “unfairly prejudicial photographs” be excluded from the trial, writing that photos of deceased victims “must be carefully scrutinized by the court” and should be excluded when they are “gruesome, inflammatory” or “where their primary effect is to arouse emotions of the jury.” Goff argued that crime scene photos were “critical pieces of evidence.”
  •  Smith denied a motion to continue the case. Brown said he needed time to prepare for the trial. “He’s not going to be able to prepare for trial, he doesn’t know the first thing about it,” Goff said, adding that he thought the motion was a “delay tactic.”

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.