Joe Morrissey first met his underage girlfriend in May of 2013 when he was a patient at a foot and ankle treatment center where she worked. Delegate Morrissey began dating and spending the night with the then 17 year old Myrna Pride in August 2013. [read_more] Pride’s older sister, Deidre Pearson, had become very concerned about her “naive younger sister”. When Pearson realized that Myrna was spending the night with Morrissey she alerted her father, Coleman Pride, who went to Morrissey’s home on August 23, 2013. Coleman Pride then called the police. Two Henrico county police officers arrived around midnight and found Myrna Pride in Morrissey’s home. Pearson also provided the police with sexual text messages between Morrissey and Pride. ALL the salacious details of Morrissey’s relationship with the teenager can be found in the Alford Pleas agreement between Morrissey and the Commonwealth (embedded below). Don’t read it unless you have a strong stomach. It is not appropriate for children. Taking advanced courses, Myrna Pride was able to graduate early from Monacan high school in 2013. She is now 18 years old and has moved to Lawrenceville GA with her mother. She is currently taking psychology courses at John Tyler Community College while working as a tutor for middle and high school students. She is pregnant, expecting a son in March. Paternity has not been established. Miss Pride is obviously a bright and attractive young woman. What a shame she got involved with the low life Joe Morrissey.
PLEA AGREEMENT Commonwealth v Joseph Dee Morrissey
Delegate Morrisey is single with three daughters from three previous relationships. Prosecutors have said “perhaps” Morrissey is the father of Pride’s child. This man, Joe Morrissey, should not be in the General Assembly. Nor should he have a license to practice law. He previously lost his license after he nearly beat a man to death. From Wikipedia,
As an attorney, Morrissey was cited for contempt of court ten times and was jailed or arrested five times.[12] On December 21, 2001, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Morrissey was disbarred and on April 25, 2003, his license to practice law was revoked by the Virginia State Bar Disciplinary Board.[2] “Frequent episodes of unethical, contumacious, or otherwise inappropriate conduct mar Joseph D. Morrissey’s career as prosecutor and private defence attorney,” the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit noted in September 2002. The court said, “Evidence … demonstrates Morrissey’s 15-year history of contempt citations, reprimands, fines, suspensions, and even incarcerations arising from unprofessional conduct mostly involving an uncontrollable temper, inappropriate responses to stress and dishonesty.”[6][13] On December 16, 2011 The Supreme Court of Virginia approved a petition for his reinstatement to the bar.[14] However, Morrissey remains ineligible to practice in the federal court.
Let’s hope the General Assembly does the right thing and boots Morrissey from the House of Delegates. More here, here, here, and here.
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[…] served in the House of Delegates from 2008 to 2014. During that time he was charged with having sex with a minor and sentenced to jail. He was released daily when the House of Delegates was in session to serve in […]
[…] the age. More details on that story and Morrissey’s rather salacious plea agreement is here. While serving his time in jail Morrissey was released from jail during the day to attend to his […]
[…] evening former Delegate Joe Morrissey will wed Myrna Pride the mother of two of his children. Morrissey went to jail for his sexual relationship with Pride when she was an underage receptionist …The couple’s children are Chase age 1 and Bella age 2 […]
[…] Morrissey was arrested in 2014 and charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor over his relationship with the teenage receptionist at his law practice, Myrna Pride, aka Myrna Warren. He served time in jail, being released during the day to attend the General Assembly session where he represented Richmond as a Delegate. The couple is now engaged and have two children, one born last week. Morrissey has a been jailed or arrested numerous times. […]
What really outrages you is an older guy with an attractive younger woman.
Folks should probably read the report on the actual charges which are public record. While it looks bad from the cell phone text information shown there is later information which shows that the data was probably fabricated by a close friend of the young women. It appears that she was jilted and she was trying to frame Morrissey. I am not on his side at all here and there is a lot of evidence to show he had an interest in this girl BUT cell phone data showed that he was not with her on the night of the supposed sexual encounter and several folks testified to this fact (to include a minister who met with him later in the evening). The location data was substantiated by cell tower data which showed his phone and her phone locations on the evening of the supposed encounter. While I have no doubt Morrisey was interested in her and probably her in him, there is a bit more to this story and some of it may include blackmail.
I am no fan of democrats but there is more to this story than what is reported here so far.
Lol, still standing by his story? He’s married to the girl now and the first son was conceived before she was of age.
Not only is this statutory rape, but also child pornography. I know 17 year old boys who have been tried as adults and jailed for less. He should never be allowed to serve as a civil servant again.
Get off your high horse. This is only a crime in 11 out of 50 states. Everywhere else, the age of consent is 16 or 17.
So because this guy is a sleaze bag you want the political body to over rule a constitutionally prescribed legal election?
The correct answer to Joe should have been better opponents, or better prosecutors.
He’s in JAIL! But I understand your point. Idiot voters can elect whomever they choose. Shame on them.
In an embarrassingly poor turnout of the 74th district’s 53,000 registered voters (12%), it took only 2,822 voters to provide a “mandate” for Morrissey. If only a few of the 46,000 non-voters had cared about the quality of their representation at the General Assembly …
Where does she say that? The General Assembly has every right in statute to proceed with either a potential censure or expulsion of Morrissey by his fellow delegates if it so elects and votes to do so and he has right of appeal. This has nothing to do with elections, its the State Constitution and the General Assembly rules of order. All I read in her comment was support of the GA proceeding with an action which I am sure it will shortly do as they won’t want this black eye to linger in the lower house.
Well then I guess it all boils down to how much legislative time the House is willing to waste this session exploring legalistic worm holes.
The offense happened in a previous session. In the meantime, he was freely elected by his constituents as an independent candidate. And he has already been sworn in to the current session of the GA.
Once you start down this type of path, don’t be surprised when delegates are thrown out because they are a detriment to house rules as the leadership sees it. Something as benign as voting your conscience for a new leader could end with censure, loss of committee appointments, or outright ostracization. But that could never happen, could it? Wonder how someone like Cruz would make out.
No the best course of action for both parties is to put Morrissey in legislative limbo, find ONE candidate that is worth a damn, AND DON’T SPLIT THE VOTE next election!