Jury deliberates whether to remove Purcellville vice mayor from office

A Loudoun County jury has been deliberating for hours in a case that could make history.

If the jury sides with prosecutors, it would be the very first time that a jury has ever removed a sitting elected official from office in Virginia.

Ben Nett is a former Purcellville police officer and is the current vice mayor in the town of Percival.

Prosecutors allege that Nett violated multiple provisions of Virginia’s Conflict of Interest Act and multiple provisions of Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act.

For those violations, prosecutors and voters in the town of Purcellville are trying to recall Nett from office.

Recalls are very common throughout Virginia, but they are never successful and they never even make it to this point.

If the jury finds that net is effectively guilty of any of these allegations, it could choose to remove him from his elected seat effective immediately. That would be the first time a sitting elected official was ever removed from office by a voter recall in Virginia.

And then there’s a lot of questions about what happens next: How would that vacant seat be filled? Would it be filled in the short term with a temporary and interim? Would it have to go to a special election?

All of those questions would need to be answered.

The town of Purcellville has a council meeting scheduled for Tuesday night, and unless the vice mayor is removed, he will be attending that meeting, and he will have his voting power.