Deputy Commonwealths Attorney Krista Boucher decided on Tuesday not to prosecute John Van Lease, a Springfield man charged with the attempted murder of Alexandrian Vanessa Stone and her unborn child.

According to Stones criminal complaint, Van Lease attempted to eject her from his BMW while driving on Pickett Street early last month. Stone did not report the incident to Alexandria police until four days later, following another incident with Van Lease in which he was charged with a misdemeanor for destruction of property.

He was arrested almost a week after the alleged incident on Picket Street.

A detective did follow [the case] up and I had a nice long meeting with the victim, and after that it was my assessment that I could not prove the case, Boucher said, though she would not comment on the specifics of the case.

Neither charge against Van Lease will be pursued, according to Joseph King, his attorney.
Both charges remain on Van Leases criminal record and he has filed a petition to expunge, which will clear him should the court grant it.

Once you get fingerprinted on a charge, its going to pop up if someone does a background check of you or run your criminal record, King said. There is certainly a potential effect of reputation just by having the charge.