Appeals court reinstates charges against Richmond man, overturns previous ruling of police discrimination

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- A recent ruling from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has reversed a judge's decision to dismiss charges against a Richmond man based on accusations that the Richmond Police Department carried out a discriminatory traffic stop.

Keith Rodney Moore's case

In December 2020, Richmond Police officers initiated a traffic stop on a vehicle that had a known fraudulent temporary tag after stopping two other vehicles earlier in the evening with the same tag number.

The driver, Keith Rodney Moore, then crashed his car in an attempt to flee the stop and proceeded to try to run away on foot. Officers eventually caught and detained him and found a firearm inside his vehicle.

As a result, Moore was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and a federal grand jury later indicted him.

Following this decision, Moore and his lawyers filed a motion to dismiss his charges -- claiming that Richmond police officers "selectively stop Black people, and that this selective enforcement led to his current charges."

Judge Gibney's ruling

In February 2024, District Judge John A. Gibney Jr. with the U.S. District Court for Eastern Virginia issued an opinion that supported Moore's stance and advocated for the charges to be dismissed.

This opinion was issued after testimony was provided from two experts -- Dr. Eli Coston, an assistant professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, and Dr. Marvin Chiles, an assistant professor at Old Dominion University.

Coston presented data gathered between July 1, 2020, and Dec. 6, 2020, from traffic stops made by Richmond Police, showcasing that 77% of stopped drivers were Black and 14.6% were white. Coston claimed that this data showed a "statistically significant relationship" between the race of a driver who was stopped and whether or not they would eventually be arrested.

Chiles detailed the history of racial segregation throughout the City of Richmond as context for increased crime in Black neighborhoods, claiming that the circumstances resulted in police tactics of "waiting, watching" for crime.

The prosecution pointed out flaws in Coston's data and questioned the relevance of Chiles' historical context and how it impacted traffic stops conducted in 2020.

Despite arguments from the prosecution, Gibney found that the evidence Moore presented demonstrated his arrest was "the product of selective law enforcement against Black drivers," and viewed it as a representation of a bigger issue of discrimination within the Richmond Police Department as a whole.

Reversing the ruling

Last week, the Court of Appeals reversed Gibney's ruling. The three-judge panel stated that "there is complete absence of evidence that the officers acted with discriminatory purpose." And as a result, they opted to "reverse the order of the district judge and remand with instructions to reinstate the indictment" against Moore.

The panel also said that the testimonies provided by Coston and Chiles were "virtually irrelevant," and "no aspect of this sequence suggests that race played a role in the decision to initiate the traffic stop."

Additionally, in terms of the testimonies, the panel said that there was a lack of attention paid to potential variables in the statistical analysis provided by Coston. The panel also said that Chiles' historical evidence could not provide any relevant insight into a stop initiated in 2020 since his evidence stopped in 1989.

The panel's order also stated that there was probable cause for the officers to stop Moore, as he had an evidently fraudulent tag, and they "expect that the public would be surprised had the officers not stopped [the defendant] in the circumstances provided."

The panel said that "while [they] do not dismiss the court's larger concern," regarding racial discrimination within law enforcement agencies, "[they] conclude that the record in this case did not justify dismissing the indictment against Moore for selective enforcement."

The order stated that the court in the original opinion to dismiss the charges "undertook to treat Moore's motion as a programmatic challenge to the fairness of traffic stops made by the Richmond Police Department," instead of looking at the actual facts of this particular case itself.

Rick Edwards, the chief of the Richmond Police Department, provided the following statement regarding the ruling reversal:

“While we are gratified by the ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, our deep appreciation is first directed to the courageous and determined work by former U.S. Attorney Jessica Aber and her team, whose spirited decision to move forward with this appeal produced these just results. Former U.S. Attorney Aber sadly passed away earlier this year, but she has left a legacy of justice and fairness. This case and the confounding first ruling delivered a significant blow to the morale of our department and to the noble profession of policing in general. As we move forward with our overarching goal of a safer Richmond for all, we restate our solemn vow of policing always in good faith. We applaud the order of the Court of Appeals and encourage any interested person to read the order in full."

The full ruling reversal can be seen below.