Virginia state legislator keeps making law while spending nights in jail for sex with a minor

Virginia state legislator keeps making law while spending nights in jail for sex with a minor
(Image credit: iStock)

A member of the Virginia House of Delegates is spending his nights in jail while he continues to commute to the State House. Joseph Morrissey, a Democrat representing Virginia's 74th District, which includes part of the capital city of Richmond, was sentenced to up to a year in jail after being convicted of having sexual relations with a 17-year-old secretary in his law office. He is allowed to continue legislating thanks to a work release program.

"We understand that the legislature can run late into the night; but we will know where he is," said Henrico County Sheriff Michael Wade.

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.