A newly unsealed FBI search-warrant filing described allegations that then-Virginia state Sen. Joe Morrissey sought payments through a consulting business in connection with efforts to secure a gubernatorial pardon for an inmate, including a $15,000 check from a man seeking clemency for his son. The documents said the Virginia State Police provided information to the FBI in early 2023. No charges were announced against Morrissey in the matter.
Unsealed FBI records described a June 2023 search warrant application that alleged then-state Sen. Joe Morrissey used his business, Premier Jury Consulting Services, LLC, to offer services to inmates and defendants while also pursuing official actions related to clemency requests.
According to the warrant materials cited by The Daily Wire, Premier Jury Consulting Services listed the same address as Morrissey’s Senate office and distributed pamphlets in multiple jail facilities around the Richmond area. The warrant said the pamphlets included a photograph of Morrissey identifying him as a state senator, referenced his service in the Virginia General Assembly since 2008 and his membership on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and contained “success stories/testimonials” from people who were pardoned, paroled or released early.
The FBI affidavit said the Virginia State Police told federal investigators in February 2023 that they had evidence Morrissey accepted a payment from the father of an incarcerated man in exchange for seeking a pardon from then-Gov. Ralph Northam. The father, identified as “Witness 1,” told authorities he initially discussed paying $30,000 but ultimately paid $15,000 after saying he could not afford the higher amount, the affidavit said.
The affidavit described a meeting in Morrissey’s office involving the father and another attorney. That attorney, the affidavit said, told the father the son had “no chance” of receiving clemency because he had stabbed a law enforcement officer. The affidavit said Morrissey then met privately with the father and reassured him that he could get the pardon and that officials would listen to him because he was a state senator.
The affidavit said the father paid by check in October 2020, writing a $15,000 check to Premier Jury Consulting Services in addition to $1,500 previously paid. The receipt described the payment as “Jury Consulting/Legal Research,” the affidavit said. It also said Senate aides handled subsequent correspondence with the father.
The unsealed documents did not state that Northam granted the requested pardon.
Separately, Northam did pardon Morrissey in January 2022 for Morrissey’s 2014 misdemeanor conviction for contributing to the delinquency of a minor, according to an Associated Press report. Northam’s office said at the time that he had granted more than 1,200 pardons during his term.
Morrissey’s political career has long drawn attention in Virginia. He lost a Democratic primary in June 2023 to Lashrecse Aird after a campaign in which abortion policy was a prominent issue, according to reporting by the Associated Press and Axios.
