Charles Severance Pleads Not Guilty in Alexandria Slayings

Charles Severance pled not guilty to charges of killing three Alexandrians in an arraignment held Thursday in Fairfax County Circuit Court, according to a report by the Associated Press.

Severance, who has been a resident of Alexandria in the past but most recently lived in Ashburn, is charged with killing Nancy Dunning, wife of then-Sheriff James Dunning, in 2003; transportation planner Ron Kirby in 2013 and music teacher Ruthanne Lodato in 2014.

Severance complained in court about the judge asking him his name. “You think me asking your name is a suggestive question?” the AP reported Judge Randy Bellows as saying. Severance also wanted to argue about the fact that he has been denied bail pending trial.

Jury selection in Severance’s trial starts Monday. Although Severance’s attorneys requested the arraignment without the jury, Severance himself complained that he wanted the arraignment held before a jury.

WUSA-9 reported that the government has spent $80,000 so far to defend Severance; the judge OK’d $4,000 more at the arraignment hearing.

Defense lawyers for Severance say their client suffers from schizophrenia, but they are not going to make an insanity defense, despite a long history of behavior that includes seeking asylum in Russia and demanding to wear a kilt in court.

Part of Severance’s defense is to try to convince the jury that the Dunning murder was committed by her husband, former Sheriff Jim Dunning, who died in 2012.