Families Want Choice of Panelist
Relatives Ask to Appoint Their Own Private Investigator

By Tim Craig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 13, 2007

The relatives of more than a dozen victims of the Virginia Tech massacre may want to hire their own private investigator to sit on the panel reviewing the shooting to guarantee its work is focused and objective, their attorney said yesterday.

Thomas J. Fadoul Jr., a Vienna lawyer for the families, said relatives have asked that state officials appoint the investigator to the panel "but be responsible to us and take direction from us."

Fadoul made his request late Monday night during a contentious meeting between family members and W. Gerald Massengill, the chairman of the panel, and Larry Roberts, chief counsel to Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D).

The meeting occurred after the relatives of 13 of the 32 victims released a statement Monday saying they felt "ostracized" by the panel and Kaine.

Instead of focusing on Virginia Tech's response to the shooting and questions such as why the campus was not closed after the initial reports of gunfire, the family members said they fear the panel is bogged down by what they consider to be extraneous issues.

"It is going completely away from the issue of accountability. . . . We want someone right there with them, every time they meet, to steer the investigation," Fadoul said. "Investigations are all about where they are steered."

Fadoul would not identify who they would like to place on the panel, but he said he knows several investigators, including one who served as an expert witness on the commission that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Late last night, Fadoul said he is hopeful that he and Roberts will come to an agreement soon. He said the relatives may drop their demands for the investigator if "they can get the same thing accomplished by some other means."

Kevin Hall, a spokesman for Kaine, said last night, "We continue to explore with these families what may be an appropriate way for them to continue to participate in the work of the independent review panel."

Kaine has requested a meeting with all the family members in the next two weeks.

Massengill maintained yesterday that he has reservations about adding more people to the panel.

He said he "adamantly opposes" placing one of the relatives on the panel because he wants to make sure its "recommendations are made free of perceptions that they are being driven by the wrong reasons."

But Massengill said he could support naming a panel member as a liaison to the relatives and giving that person "some sort of special access."

"If the governor wants to put someone on that committee to be there to take care of the parents, that is one thing, but no one is going to take control of this committee," said Massengill, a retired Virginia State Police superintendent.

Fadoul said the meeting Monday night became so tense that it got "very close to going beyond politeness." Fadoul said the parents are angry because several of them have requested to be named to the panel, but he said they were rebuffed by Kaine and Roberts.

"We don't want to fight, but they forced us into the posture," Fadoul said.

The tension is the latest in a series of distractions and setbacks for the panel, which Kaine created in the days after the shooting.

Massengill has vowed the panel will investigate the circumstances that led to the shooting as well as shooter Seung Hui Cho's mental condition, Virginia Tech's response and the state's gun laws.

But panel members have been frustrated because Cho's medical and academic records are protected under state and federal privacy laws. Many of the laws say only Cho's parents can authorize the release of those records.

The panel, which has one more scheduled meeting, is also trying to produce a preliminary report by the end of August.

Massengill, however, remains upbeat.

In an interview yesterday, he said he's confident the panel won't have to resort to a court order to get access to Cho's medical and academic records. He said he has opened a "line of communication" with Cho's parents, who left their Centreville home after the shooting.

"It's pretty clear, based on communications I have had, Cho's family wants to cooperate," Massengill said.

Dr. Aradhana A. "Bela" Sood, a panel member who is the lead child psychiatrist at Virginia Commonwealth University Health System, said she wants the panel to examine Cho's interaction with family members, peers and classmates to try to determine "points at which red flags were raised."

"We need to know, was there bullying, were there learning disabilities, and how did that come up and what did the system do or not do to respond to that?" Sood said.

The panel plans to interview, for instance, Cho's guidance counselor at Westfield High School.

Sood said she agrees with Massengill's qualms about adding a family member or a family representative to the panel.

"I think when you bring in a family member, issues of objectivity versus subjectivity need to be grappled with," said Sood.

But Fadoul said the victims' relatives are determined that things "are not whitewashed or covered up."