Charges were dismissed against two Army soldiers who were accused of ripping down pride flags outside a couple’s home in Arlington, after they completed a restorative justice program.
Pride flags all along South Courthouse Road in Arlington are a show of support for Michelle Logan and Jenna Burnett, a couple in the neighborhood who were victims of a series of crimes caught on camera. On at least five occasions, pride flags were stolen outside their home.
In February, two soldiers at Joint Base Fort Myer-Henderson Hall were charged for the alleged crimes. But nearly a year later, their cases were dismissed after they completed a new restorative justice program launched by the Arlington County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office.
"It's almost like if you took mediation and therapy and blended those things,” Arlington County Commonwealth's Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti said.
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The program started about three years ago, and only works for certain cases where both the victims and the defendants agree to meet face-to-face for restorative sessions rather than traditional court proceedings.
Dehghani-Tafti says the goal is to bring healing and ensure accountability.
"We should be empowering victims,” Dehghani-Tafti said. “We should be giving them a voice in what they need. Because, oftentimes, the system that we have is causing more harm towards victims. It re-traumatizes them. And, not everybody feels that they need the retribution and punishment and it's not necessarily appropriate in every single case.”
The two victims in this case didn’t want to be interviewed on camera but they did provide a statement to News4 explaining why they chose to participate in the program. The statement says in part:
“Honestly, this seemed like a good route to take because we didn’t feel like the court process was enough of a punishment. We wanted both of them to educate themselves around why they did this, what struggles the LGBTQ+ community has faced and continues to face, and why this wasn’t just about stealing a Pride flag.”
Burnett and Logan say the process took about five months with the defendants attending several sessions.
The couple says they were given the opportunity to ask the defendants hard questions and felt that they got through to them.
Their statement goes on to say:
“We do want people to know consequences were given and it’s not like the cases were just dismissed - there were lasting impacts.”
Since March of 2023, the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office has completed 13 successful restorative justice cases and has seven others they’re currently working on.
