By Brandon Jarvis
Governor Northam granted a conditional pardon to Blair Dacey, the woman who was convicted in the murder of Rusty Mack in Colonial Heights in 2014. The case is complicated as a lot of people within the Colonial Heights community knew Rusty and the group of individuals that killed him.
The night Mack was attacked, Dacey and three other individuals that were all older than her went to Mack’s house to confront him. The group of four, two women and two men were confronting Mack due to an issue between him and his ex, Ashley Mack, and her boyfriend were in the group of four with Dacey.
A fight ensued at some point in front of Mack’s apartment just off of the Boulevard near the post office in Colonial Heights. Towards the end of the fight, Dacey kicked Mack in the head. The blow to his head would eventually kill him days later.
Though they were all arrested, Dacey was the only of the four individuals involved in that night to be convicted. She was 18 years old in 2014 when a judge sentenced her to 20 years.
The three other individuals involved have largely disappeared from the Colonial Heights community since Mack’s death.
State Sen. Joe Morrissey (D-Richmond) was the attorney that represented Ashley Mack (Rusty’s ex) in her case and Morrissey helped Dacey navigate the process to receive this pardon.
A Facebook page honoring Rusty Mack commented on the news Thursday. “Convicts helping convicts!! Within 48 hrs of the family getting the first call…its a done deal!! It took Rusty longer to die than it took the governor to issue this conditional pardon….simply disgusting!!!”