On December 29, 2017, Stafford County Sheriff's Deputy N.C. Potter responded to a call at America's Best Value Inn in Stafford County. As he approached the hotel in his cruiser, he observed a woman running towards the hotel's front office, wearing nothing but a towel on a very cold evening. She appeared frantic and scared. Deputy Potter spoke with the woman, whom he identified as K.M., and took her written statement. She wrote,
Tossed me against the wall, dragged me by my hair. My eye is semi-swollen and black either, and in parenthesis I said either smacked or punched me, forced me to take my clothes off and shower, wouldn't let me leave the room when I wanted to leave, grabbed me by neck and threw me on the bed, breathing was hard.
Deputy Potter also took photographs of K.M., which show swelling to her face and swelling and bruising on her arm.
Deputy Potter also spoke with Harper, who appeared agitated and aggressive. Harper told Deputy Potter that he and K.M. had a verbal argument over some damage to her vehicle. He said he did not hit K.M. but he repeatedly stated that he did not let her leave the room when she wanted to, and he held her by the shoulder and would not let her leave "because he didn't want to make this something bigger than it was." He added that he took her clothes off and made her shower with him. Deputy Potter obtained a warrant for Harper's arrest and an emergency protective order ("EPO") which he served on Harper. The EPO stated that Harper shall have "no contact of any kind with [K.M.]."
In spite of the EPO, Harper made phone calls to K.M. from the jail in the early morning hours on December 30, 2017. Relevant statements from the calls include:
First jail call:
Harper: I thought you was going to cooperate with me so I won't get locked up.
Harper: You know I wouldn't be locked up right now if you didn't run out the door with your freakin’ towel on, right?
K.M.: I wasn't the one that called the cops.
Harper: I know. You didn't have to tell them everything that happened either, though.
K.M.: I don't want to see you in jail. Like, I'm not that type of female.
Harper: You put me in here. You put me in here.
K.M.: You gave me a bruise on my eye. That wasn't necessary.
Harper: You know when I get this court date and everything, if anything, the only way that [will] get me out of it is if you either don't show up or come to court and say he hasn't been doin’ it.
Harper: You know I'm going to get big time for this shit, right?
K.M.: I'm not going to show up to court.
Harper: This is going to be even worse [than the last time] ... they're trying to get me for ... a whole rack of shit, keeping you hostage and strangling you, and all this extra shit.
Harper: You know how much time they going to give me for that shit?
Harper: You told the officer everything what happened; you suppose to tell them it's alright ... so I could come back in the room with you.... Now I'm stuck in here all of New Years.
Harper: You did just get me locked up. If you would have told the feds that everything was fine.... They would have just let me go.... But you had to tell them the whole story.
K.M.: What happens if I don't go to court? ... Do they just drop it?
Harper: I don't know ... I'm pretty sure they should.
Harper: You're my girl and shit ... but we don't get each other locked up.
Second jail call:
Harper: I ain't gonna lie, I'm in here crying cause of you, like I love you, I know yes, we do go through a lot of shit, but I'm just like, you know what I mean, I thought you would have my back through that shit too because I wouldn't be in here right now if you had just get off the brakes, just like there ain't nothing wrong with me, we ain't having nothing, just as simple as arguing like everybody else is, you know what I mean, and I wouldn't have to go through this shit.
Harper: You know they trying to charge me with three different charges against you, right?
K.M.: You know I'm not going to go to court. You know ... I don't want to do anything to make you end up going to jail for this.
Harper: Even though all that shit happened ... I'm sorry for everything and you know I love you.
K.M.: I love you.
K.M.: You gotta see what you do too.
Harper: You can't talk over me either.
Harper: I don't even do much. I just throw you.
K.M.: I don't want it to get worse. I don't want the arguments to get worse. I don't want the bruises to get worse.
K.M.: I felt like it was wrong for you to put your hands on me the way you did today.
Harper: You did disrespect me. You started yapping over me.
K.M.: You just keep putting your hands on me.
Harper: Well, you did just get me locked up, so I still got a lot of thinking about that too.
K.M.: I still love you ... but it's not healthy.
Harper: Well, if anything, the best thing you probably can do is probably not show up to court or show up to court and tell them nothing happened.
K.M.: I was just planning on not going.... But I was going to look into it more and just find out what would be the best.
Also in this call, K.M. recalled that Harper pushed her against the wall, and Harper replied, "because you had an attitude." She told him nothing she did justified him pushing her against the wall.
III. Pre-trial Proceedings
On January 23, 2018, K.M. appeared in the circuit court to testify on Harper's behalf at his bond hearing. K.M. swore an oath before the court to testify to "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth...." When asked by Harper's counsel if Harper strangled her on December 29, 2017, K.M. answered, "No. I wanted to go against that statement." Prompted to explain, she stated,
I wanted to go against it and I understand that after the incident they were insisting on me to take forensic pictures and all that, I didn't find it necessary. It was pretty much him just stopping me from stepping out of our hotel room because I was in a very irate state, and I was planning on driving going to some parking lot or something and he did not want a scene to be caused, I didn't either, honestly. But we were both not meeting ends and we just kept going back and forth, and that's pretty much how it all happened.
She also stated,
I don't think he should be getting punished when it didn't go down as him just attacking me, he didn't. We were just arguing, and it got to the point where he was holding me down so I wouldn't go out and start yelling and make a scene outside, but it wasn't anything I can say I was injured or physically affected in a permanent way, or anything like that.
On cross-examination, the Commonwealth's attorney asked K.M. whether she was honest with the police on December 29, 2017. K.M. replied, "Honestly, I feel like I wasn't. I feel like my statements were completely incorrect." To clarify, the Commonwealth's attorney asked, "[A]re you saying that you lied to the police?" K.M. answered, "Yes. Pretty much my statements were incorrect. I should have been more specific. I should have written it down in I guess a more essay format. I was nervous, my adrenaline was pumping, I wasn't thinking straight, and my statements were completely absurd and incorrect." She added, "That's why I'm mainly here today to go against them." Finally, the Commonwealth's attorney showed K.M. the written statement that she gave to Deputy Potter on December 29. K.M. confirmed, that was the statement she was saying was false.
On March 5, 2018, the grand jury indicted Harper on charges of abduction, misdemeanor domestic assault and battery, and inducing false testimony. On March 20, 2018, as reflected in the circuit court's order, Harper appeared in circuit court for arraignment. He signed an "Acknowledgment of Advise of Rights" [sic] and pleaded not guilty to the indictments in open court. The circuit court order reads,
[A]fter being advised by the Court and his attorney of his right to a trial by a jury, the accused knowingly and voluntarily waived trial by a jury with which waiver the Attorney for the Commonwealth did not concur.
Whereupon, this case is set for a trial, with a jury, as requested by the Commonwealth on June 6, 2018, at 10:00 a.m.
Also on March 20, Harper signed his recognizance form, which stated, "I, the Defendant, as a condition of my release from custody, by signing this form, promise to appear in court on the date and time noted above." The date and time noted on the form are "June 6, 2018 at 9:00 a.m."
On June 6, 2018, the circuit court's order reflects that Harper did not appear for...
