A veteran York County prosecutor will lead prosecutions in Mathews County on an interim basis following the death of Commonwealth’s Attorney Tina Marie Walls.
The judges in the state’s 9th Judicial Circuit — which includes Mathews — selected Kimberly E. Hensley to take the office’s helm until a Nov. 3 special election.
Hensley “shall be vested with the powers and shall perform all of the duties of the office of Commonwealth’s Attorney for Mathews County,” Circuit Court Jeffrey W. Shaw wrote in a court order Monday.
She was sworn in immediately thereafter.
Walls, who was about halfway through her four-year term, was found outside her Mathews home at about 11:30 a.m. on Feb. 10. She was on the ground near her black SUV, with a single gunshot wound to the chest, according to a search warrant affidavit.
A revolver was found nearby, with four rounds and one spent cartridge case inside the firearm. Walls was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Virginia State Police have said they don’t believe anyone else was involved. But the State Medical Examiner’s Office has not revealed the manner of Walls’ death as of Monday afternoon.
The office can rule a death an accident, suicide, homicide or natural death.
According to the Virginia Association of Commonwealth’s Attorneys, Hensley has been a Virginia prosecutor off and on for 30 years.
She was an assistant prosecutor in Hampton for several years and has been with the York County prosecutor’s office since September 2017. Hensley will take a pause in that job with the blessing of York-Poquoson Commonwealth’s Attorney Krystyn Reid.
Also on Monday, the judges appointed Gloucester Commonwealth’s Attorney John Dusewicz — whose office stepped in to handle Mathews cases in recent weeks — as a special prosecutor assisting Hensley until March 31.
“Kim knows our other offices are ready to pitch in as she identifies need for additional help,” added Amanda Howie, the executive director of the commonwealth’s attorney’s association, in an email to other elected prosecutors announcing Henley’s appointment.
Under state law, the judges needed to select an outside replacement for Walls because she was her office’s sole prosecutor — with no deputies or assistant prosecutors under her who could have assumed the role.
The November special election will fill the commonwealth’s attorney’s seat until a regular election slated for 2027 to fill the post for four years.
Peter Dujardin, 757-897-2062, pdujardin@dailypress.com
