Appoint Independent Prosecutors for Lilith Marcotte – The Red Onion Staff Responsible For Her Homicide Must Be Charged With MURDER!

By: UPROAR Admin · September 17, 2026

Lilith Was Killed at Red Onion — Demand Independent Prosecution

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Lilith Was Killed at Red Onion. Demand Independent Prosecution.

Lilith Marcotte, known in VADOC records as Michael Joseph Hailey Jr, died at Red Onion State Prison on November 26, 2025. The Virginia Medical Examiner ruled her death a homicide caused by asphyxia due to chest compression. In pod B2, an incarcerated eyewitness says Red Onion staff shot Lilith, pepper-sprayed her, and used a Taser on her. The eyewitness says Unit Manager Larry Collins then sat on Lilith before staff put her on a gurney. Lilith later spent hours restrained in Red Onion medical.

Wise County already stepped aside from the Aubrey McKay homicide at Wallens Ridge after its own prosecutor’s office acknowledged that local relationships with prison employees can create conflicts. Our updated evidence now documents specific person-to-person relationships connecting Commonwealth’s Attorney M. Brett Hall, his household, and his office to Red Onion employees.

The demand: Wise County must step aside from Lilith’s case, Governor Abigail Spanberger must refer the homicide for independent criminal proceedings, and the prosecutors who defended VADOC in Lilith’s civil case must not control the criminal review.

🚦 Quick Start — What to Do in 5–10 Minutes

Call Commonwealth’s Attorney Brett Hall and demand that Wise County/Norton step aside from Lilith’s homicide.
Call Governor Spanberger and Attorney General Jay Jones and demand independent criminal proceedings.
Call Secretary Stanley Meador and VADOC Director Joseph Walters and demand preservation of evidence and protection of incarcerated witnesses.
Send the ActionNetwork letter below.
Read and share the evidence report: bit.ly/wise-recusal-report-2

What Happened Why Recusal Demands Call Targets Call Scripts Send the Letter Evidence Report Sources Share

What Happened to Lilith

November 26, 2025: Lilith, a transgender woman, died at Red Onion State Prison.
Pod B2 eyewitness: an incarcerated eyewitness told UPROAR that he saw Red Onion staff shoot Lilith with “the gun,” pepper-spray her, and use a Taser on her. The eyewitness said Lilith “wasn’t even being defensive.” He said that after staff tased Lilith, Unit Manager Larry Collins sat on her, and staff then put Lilith on a gurney.
Medical-unit witness: Me’Shaun Crocker told UPROAR that while housed in Red Onion medical she heard the prisoner in medical cell one repeatedly ask for water, say something was too tight, and say she could not breathe. Crocker heard staff refuse water, tell the prisoner to “shut the fuck up” and “you ain’t getting shit,” and later heard staff say the prisoner was not breathing and heard repeated AED prompts. Crocker did not know the prisoner’s identity or exact date when she gave the account, and she did not see the restraint configuration inside the cell.
September 1 settlement hearing: according to contemporaneous notes taken in court, plaintiff’s attorney Mark Krudys told the court that the case involved impact rounds, pepper spray, a Taser, and restraints. He said Lilith spent approximately eight hours in medical/restraints without food, water, or bathroom access.
Entered court order: the settlement order records that Red Onion placed Lilith on a five-point restraint table containing a chest strap before she was pronounced dead, and records the Medical Examiner’s finding that she died from asphyxia due to chest compression.
Civil case: the court approved a $2.7 million wrongful-death settlement. The settlement ended the civil case; it did not determine whether anyone committed a crime.

The civil case is over. The criminal question remains unanswered.

Each source establishes a different part of the sequence. The incarcerated eyewitness describes what he saw in pod B2, including Larry Collins sitting on Lilith after staff tased her. Crocker describes what she heard during the medical-unit emergency. Krudys supplied additional facts in open court. The entered order establishes the five-point restraint table with a chest strap and the Medical Examiner’s chest-compression finding.

Investigators must examine the entire chain: the force used in pod B2, Collins’s reported physical contact with Lilith, transport to medical, the restraint decisions, repeated statements that something was too tight and that the prisoner could not breathe, denial of water, monitoring and checks, medical response, and the eventual emergency response.

Why Wise County Must Step Aside

Wise County has already confronted the local-conflict problem at Wallens Ridge State Prison. After Aubrey McKay died there and the Medical Examiner ruled his death a homicide, the Wise County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office stepped aside. Office spokesperson Jessica Hood explained that in a rural area like Wise County, “everybody knows everyone,” and people in the prosecutor’s office may know prison employees closely enough to create a conflict.

The updated evidence is no longer just about overlapping surnames.

We now have specific, documented person-to-person connections between Hall, Hall’s household, Hall’s office, and Red Onion employees.

Jennifer Sturgill Mullins → Larry Collins: family records establish that Mullins, a longtime employee of the Wise County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, and Red Onion Unit Manager Larry Collins are first cousins once removed. An incarcerated eyewitness says Collins sat on Lilith during the force Red Onion staff used against her.
Brett Hall → Lt. Jordan Fleming: Hall publicly thanked Fleming by name for helping him find his missing dog, wrote “I love my people and where I am from,” and said Fleming and the others he named helped him “more than they’ll ever know.” Fleming is a defendant in Me’Shaun Crocker’s pending federal civil-rights case.
Brett Hall → Cristal Reynolds Meade: Red Onion Registered Nurse Supervisor Meade’s Facebook friend list includes Hall. State personnel records place Meade in nursing supervision at Red Onion during the period when Lilith died.
Laken Hall → Toni Ramey: Hall’s wife appears in the Facebook friend list of Ramey, whom state personnel records identify as an active Red Onion Mental Health Clinician I / Psychology Associate I.

The Fleming connection reaches directly into the witness evidence. Crocker is the medical-unit witness who reported hearing repeated requests for water, statements that something was too tight, statements that the prisoner could not breathe, staff refusals, and the later emergency response. Fleming is a defendant in Crocker’s separate federal civil-rights case.

Hall has also responded personally to the conflict campaign. When UPROAR confronted him with the documented Mullins–Collins family relationship, Hall answered with a joke about whether sharing a surname made him related to Arsenio Hall. He defended his coworkers as “phenomenal people,” declared “I’m the decision maker here,” and called organizer Melinda Evans “low-life scum.”

After UPROAR published the Mullins–Collins relationship, Collins contacted a UPROAR organizer directly and demanded that UPROAR remove his and his family’s names from the page.

Broader workforce overlap

The direct relationships sit inside a broader local workforce network:

37 employees worked at both Red Onion and Wallens Ridge during their careers.

10 employees moved directly between the two prisons in 2025.

119 surnames appear at both prisons in the 2025 personnel records.

10 surnames found among Wise Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office personnel also appear among Red Onion employees.

8 of those office surnames appear at Wallens Ridge.

The surname counts show the scale of the shared local workforce. The Mullins–Collins kinship, Hall–Fleming relationship, Hall–Meade connection, and Laken Hall–Ramey connection are the more concrete evidence.

The standard cannot change because the prison changed. Wise County stepped aside from the McKay homicide after acknowledging the conflict problem created by local prison relationships. Lilith’s case now contains specific relationships connecting the local prosecutor, his household, and his office to Red Onion employees.

The Civil Settlement Cannot Be the End of Accountability

The $2.7 million settlement ended the civil lawsuit and released covered defendants and personnel from further civil liability under the settlement. Lilith’s family obtained compensation and forced VADOC to end five-point restraints, but the settlement did not determine criminal responsibility.

Criminal proceedings are now the remaining legal process capable of determining whether the people who participated in Lilith’s homicide committed crimes and of imposing personal legal accountability where the evidence supports it.

Without an independent criminal investigation and charging decision, Lilith’s homicide can end with the Commonwealth paying $2.7 million, civil releases protecting covered defendants from further liability, and no public determination of who bears criminal responsibility.

Ending five-point restraints addressed one practice. It did not identify everyone who participated in Lilith’s death, determine each person’s responsibility, or prevent those individuals from harming someone else if they remain in positions where they can use force, order restraints, deny care, or ignore another person struggling to breathe.

Our Demands

M. Brett Hall and the Wise County/Norton Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office must step aside from all charging and prosecution decisions in Lilith’s homicide.
Governor Abigail Spanberger must refer Lilith’s homicide to the Attorney General for independent investigation and any appropriate criminal proceedings.
Attorney General Jay Jones must assign prosecutors independent of the lawyers who defended VADOC in Lilith’s civil case.
VADOC must preserve the complete evidentiary record and protect incarcerated witnesses from retaliation.
Virginia must tell Lilith’s family and the public who currently holds responsibility for deciding whether anyone will face charges for her homicide.

Virginia law already provides the mechanism. Va. Code § 19.2-155 allows appointment of another Commonwealth’s Attorney when the local prosecutor is “so situated” that acting would be improper, with judicial concurrence. Va. Code § 2.2-511 allows the Attorney General to conduct circuit-court criminal prosecutions when specifically requested by the Governor.

Call Targets

1. Governor Abigail Spanberger
📞 (804) 786-2211
✉️ abigail.spanberger@governor.virginia.gov
Demand: refer Lilith’s homicide to the Attorney General for independent criminal proceedings.

2. M. Brett Hall — Commonwealth’s Attorney, Wise County & City of Norton
📞 (276) 328-9406
✉️ bhall@wisecwa.info
Demand: step aside from all charging and prosecution decisions in Lilith’s homicide.

3. Attorney General Jay Jones
📞 (804) 786-2071
✉️ mailoag@oag.state.va.us
Demand: assign an independent criminal team separated from VADOC’s civil-defense lawyers.

4. Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security Stanley Meador
📞 (804) 786-5351
✉️ stanley.meador@governor.virginia.gov
Demand: support independent criminal proceedings, evidence preservation, and witness protection.

5. VADOC Director Joseph Walters
📞 (804) 887-8080
✉️ joseph.walters@vadoc.virginia.gov
Demand: preserve all evidence and protect incarcerated witnesses from retaliation.

Call Scripts

You do not need to read every fact. State the homicide, the conflict, and the demand. If staff try to redirect you, ask them to record your call and pass the demand to the official.

Hi, my name is [NAME]. I’m calling Governor Spanberger about Michael “Lilith” Marcotte, whose death at Red Onion State Prison was ruled a homicide caused by asphyxia due to chest compression. Wise County already stepped aside from the Aubrey McKay prison-homicide case after its own prosecutor’s office acknowledged that local relationships with prison employees can create conflicts. We now have specific relationship evidence in Lilith’s case. A longtime Wise Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office employee is first cousins once removed with Red Onion Unit Manager Larry Collins, whom an eyewitness says sat on Lilith during the force used against her. Commonwealth’s Attorney Brett Hall publicly praised Red Onion Lt. Jordan Fleming as one of “my people” who helped him “more than they’ll ever know.” Fleming is a defendant in the federal civil-rights case brought by Me’Shaun Crocker, a witness to Lilith’s final hours in medical. Red Onion Nurse Supervisor Cristal Meade’s Facebook friend list includes Hall, and Hall’s wife appears in the Facebook friend list of Red Onion Mental Health Clinician Toni Ramey. I’m asking Governor Spanberger to refer Lilith’s homicide to Attorney General Jay Jones for an independent investigation and any appropriate criminal proceedings. Please record my call and give this demand directly to the Governor.

Brett Hall — recusal demand

I’m demanding that Brett Hall and the Wise County/Norton Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office step aside from every charging, review, declination, and prosecution decision in Lilith Marcotte’s homicide. The record now includes a documented family relationship between Hall’s office and Unit Manager Larry Collins, Hall’s public relationship with Lt. Jordan Fleming, Hall in Nurse Supervisor Cristal Meade’s Facebook friend list, and Hall’s wife in Mental Health Clinician Toni Ramey’s Facebook friend list. Please record my call and give that demand directly to Commonwealth’s Attorney Hall.

Governor Spanberger — referral demand

I’m calling to ask Governor Spanberger to refer Michael “Lilith” Marcotte’s homicide to Attorney General Jay Jones for independent investigation and any appropriate criminal proceedings. Wise County already stepped aside from the Aubrey McKay homicide after acknowledging local prison relationships could create conflicts. We now have concrete relationships connecting Brett Hall, his household, and his office to Red Onion employees. Please record my call and give this demand directly to the Governor.

Attorney General Jones — independent team demand

I’m demanding an independent criminal review of Lilith’s homicide. If the Governor refers the case to the Attorney General, the criminal team must be separate from the lawyers who defended VADOC in Lilith’s civil case.

Secretary Meador / Director Walters — evidence and witness protection

I’m demanding preservation of every record related to Lilith’s homicide and protection of incarcerated witnesses from retaliation. Preserve all video, body-camera footage, use-of-force records, impact-round and Taser records, pepper-spray records, medical and restraint records, duty rosters, internal communications, and investigative materials.

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Send the ActionNetwork Letter

Same County. Same Conflict Standard.

Send a letter demanding that Wise County step aside and Virginia appoint independent prosecutors for Lilith’s homicide.

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Read the Evidence Report

Recusal Evidence Report V2 compiles the witness and court records, personnel records, Red Onion/Wallens Ridge workforce data, Mullins–Collins family documentation, Hall–Fleming relationship, Hall–Meade connection, Laken Hall–Ramey connection, Hall’s public statements, Collins’s messages, and supporting screenshots behind this campaign.

Open Recusal Evidence Report V2

Short link: bit.ly/wise-recusal-report-2