Gloucester County CourthousePhoto byWatchful Eye

**Reporting based on trial proceedings, police statements, and Herrin's post-trial remarks to media**

Last summer, four out-of-town men were charged with felonies for bringing guns to a Gloucester County School Board meeting.

Last week, on July 19, a jury found them not guilty.

The charges stemmed from a previously reported incident at the July 2023 Gloucester School Board meeting. Trevor Herrin of Williamsburg came to the podium to offer some words of caution to school board members.

He said someone slashed his tire at the school board meeting the month before. The self-described “experienced political operative” described the tire-slashing as act of violence and told the School Board they had an opportunity to make things right.

Herrin had a knife visible on the back of his belt, as shown in this Watchful Eye video. But a Gloucester deputy claimed he also spotted a gun.

In a statement, Gloucester County Sheriff’s Office said the gun “was only visible as the male left the podium due to his body movements that raised the height of his shirt tail.”

In the parking lot, police confronted Herrin and the men who came to the meeting with him. Police found that, in addition to Herrin, three others had guns. At first, the men refused to disarm, but eventually, they gave up their guns and left.

Herrin, Derek Coblentz, of Prospect, Christopher Cordasco, of Williamsburg, and Antonio Hernandez, of Fishersville, were each charged with carrying a firearm on school property, a Class 6 felony.

They had a two-day joint trial last week that was centered around answering the question: what is a school.

An area near Virginia Co-Op Extension Office at Thomas Walker Calhoun Education Center in GloucesterPhoto byWatchful Eye

The school board meeting they attended with guns was at Thomas Calhoun Walker Education Center. The building is an old school converted into a multi-use facility. One use is housing the Head Start program in Gloucester.

What is Head Start was another key element of the case.

Gloucester County Commonwealth’s Attorney John Dusewicz told the jury this was a simple case that was only about two things. “It’s about guns at a school,” he said.

He told the jury if there were guns present and those guns were at a school, there was nothing else to consider. In the eyes of the law, those two things are all that matters.

Dusewicz went on to argue that Head Start is a school. He provided a definition from Virginia Code that defines Head Start as a public preschool program. He noted that Head Start operates like a school with a curriculum and parent-teacher conferences.

But the four attorneys for the defendants were successful in arguing otherwise, proving that Head Start is not a school. It’s a child day center.

Child day centers are also defined in the State Code, and that definition says those operations can only be viewed as school property when in session.

The jury found all four men not guilty for the felony charge of possessing a gun on school property.

“We’ve now established what a Head Start is or isn’t. So, if somebody else finds themselves in the same circumstances, which they might, hopefully they can point to may case as precedent,” Herrin said in post-trial remarks outside the courthouse.

After the trial, Herrin talks about the verdicts and appealing his misdemeanor charge.Photo byWatchful Eye

Herrin convicted on misdemeanor

Herrin was the only one of the four men who didn’t have a concealed carry permit at that July 2023 meeting. During the trial last week, he told Judge Jeffrey Shaw that it had just expired that summer sometime around when he got charged in Gloucester.

Dusewicz accused Herrin of going to the school board with the intention to intimidate. And he told the judge that Herrin’s concealed carry violation should be viewed as more aggravated than your normal concealed carry case.

The judge also raised concerns about Herrin’s posture and comments toward police the night of the school board incident. Judge Shaw told Herrin that, for someone preaching non-violence in the courtroom, he was clearly inciting it that night.

Judge Shaw sentenced Herrin to 30 days in jail and called for the bailiff to take him into custody immediately. But Herrin’s attorney stepped in and asked for a stay while they file for appeal.

The judge granted the stay, allowing Herrin to remain out on bond. He has 30 days from July 19 to file for appeal.

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