This means that as of midnight tonight, it is perfectly legal to kill him without facing capital murder charges. See Partisan politics slows down Assembly action on judges. However, when the legislative deadlock is broken, he might be back in as a judge early next week.
Judge Janow was not re-elected because of a legislative deadlock in Richmond, arising from the fact that there are exactly 50 Republicans and 50 Democrats this year. The Richmond Times Dispatch for today quotes Vance Wilkins, the Delegate from Amherst and Republican Floor Leader, as saying: "It's only fair that since we've achieved parity that we have our say in electing judges."
Judge Janow had my then 8-year-old daughter, Shamema Honzagool Sloan, kidnapped in the United Arab Emirates on October 7, 1990, even though I had legal custody of her in New York State where my daughter was born. Judge Janow also had my mother's bank accounts, containing $300,000, frozen, to prevent us from recovering our kidnapped daughter.
Judge Janow is almost without doubt the most hated man in Amherst County. He has taken more children away from their parents than any other judge in Virginia, even though he is in one of the smallest counties. Many parents have never seen their children again and are not even allowed to know where they are.
Judge Janow has almost always kidnapped little girls. In two cases, the girls tried to run away and return back to their mothers. Both were apprehended and brought back. One eventually got married on the day that she turned 16, so that she would be legally emancipated. She has since given birth to a child. The other made good her escape across the Virginia state line and is believed to be hiding in Brooklyn, New York. I am hoping to find her before they do.
In addition, since early 1994, Judge Janow has been rumored to be involved in a drug dealing, gambling and money laundering operation. In 1996, there was a federal trial involving this. Several prominent residents of Amherst were convicted and received sentences of as much as 30 years. The defendants claimed that Judge Janow and his former law partner, Judge Gamble, were the kingpins of this operation, but the two judges were never prosecuted.
Michael Cox, the Sheriff of Amherst County, was also implicated in this drug dealing, gambling and money laundering scheme. Cox retired and did not run for re-election as sheriff for this reason.
Please look at my web site at http://www.samsloan.com/wanted for information about Judge Janow's kidnapping of my daughter, Shamema Honzagool Sloan, and my eight-year long effort to get her back.
Sam Sloan