Black Lives Matter

Matthew Rusfin is a black, 22 year old autistic male from Virginia Beach.  Matthew beat all the odds growing up.  Being black, autistic, ADHD, issues with anxiety and a traumatic brain injury that happened in 2017, that left him in a coma for several days, and which required him to relearn some of the basic life functions including walking and talking.  Despite all these obstacles Matthew graduated High School with Honors was accepted to ODU where he was majoring in engineering.  Matthew had a job, played the piano and was an amazing violinist even composing his own music.  One of the things that Matthew enjoyed most was volunteering his time with many different groups.  

On January 4th 2019 Matthew's nightmare with the Virginia Beach Police Department and the Commonwealth Attorneys Office began.  After being involved in an accident the Virginia Beach Police began violating Matthews rights.  Instead of realizing that Matthew had  autism they took advantage of this, handcuffing him, secluding him from his family and lying and questioning him for four hours,  Subsequently as a result Matthew was charged with 2nd Degree Murder and jailed without bond.

After being jailed for several months and fearing the results of a jury trial Matthew was pressured to plead guilty to crimes he did not commit.  Matthew was never properly evaluated and sadly his disabilities were never considered.    Today he sits in a state prison serving ten years and still not understanding why he is there.  

Matthew has compassion for those injured in the car accident, but Matthew is not a danger to society.  He has some serious ongoing health problems that could lead to permanent blindness.

The facts are clear that Matthew was railroaded by the criminal justice system.  Mike supports the effort to bring Matthew home and will work with Matthew's family and supporters to make sure that happens.