Driver convicted in Binsted murder

The third and final defendant in the Tyler J. Binsted murder trial, which took place last spring, pleaded guilty and was convicted in the Richmond Circuit Court. Binsted’s murder and the April 16, 2007 shootings at Virginia Tech increased safety concerns for many in the VCU community.

LaPrecious Nicole Austin, 20, was charged with two counts of robbery, an accessory to murder after the fact and use of a firearm. Austin could serve up to 30 years in prison.

Zsabriela Evelyn Williams, 20, and Howard R. Scott, 17, robbed Tyler J. Binstead, 19, and his girlfiend in Byrd Park on March 27, 2008. The robbers then told the couple to get in the back of Binstead’s car. When Binstead refused and began to walk away, Williams shot Binstead in the back. Binstead’s girlfriend then jumped out of the car Austin was driving and looked for help.

Williams has been sentenced to life in prison plus 13 years. Scott faces a possible life term. The court is unsure how to assess Austin’s involvement in the crime because she neither harmed Binstead’s girlfriend, nor helped Binsted’s girlfriend seek aid from authorities.

SAFETY

“Events like Virginia Tech and the Binsted murder hit close to home. It worried students and influenced school officials and students to be more aware of their surroundings and safety,” said Emily Hardt, a biology major.

The VCU alert system was founded after the Virginia Tech incident, but encountered some glitches in its inception. Many students and faculty were not signed up for text message alerts because there was a fee or they were not near a computer to receive e-mails. The sirens were installed before the 2008-2009 school year started.

Monthly tests of the emergency system make sure that everything is running smoothly. On Jan. 7, 2009, there was a glitch in the system and many students received blank texts.

“I got a blank text during the monthly test, and it bothers me because what if something really happens? How are we supposed to know?” said Mandy Dutton, a criminal justice major. “I feel that it’s VCU’s responsibility to make its students feel safe and these messages help instill that. If something goes wrong and the messages don’t work, what does that say?”

The school moved quickly to fix the glitch.

“The glitch in text messages was traced to the vendor who receives the text message from VCU and then transmits it to the commercial phone carriers,” said John Bennett, senior vice president for finance and administration. “Our vendor made a change in its computer code to streamline communications, and there was an error in the changed code. The error was identified and corrected that same afternoon.”

During the first week of each month, the school tests the siren and text-messaging services to make sure everything is still running.

“I feel comfortable relying on the alerts because even if there’s a glitch in the text messaging, there are still the yellow boxes in the classroom. The sirens can also be heard when you’re in class,” Hardt said.

Bennett said, “We test our emergency warning system once a month so that we will be sure it operates correctly if we should ever need it. So, even though we had a minor problem, the problem was detected and fixed quickly, so the test accomplished its purpose.”

VCU has multiple ways of alerting students in the case that glitches occur in an emergency.

“That’s also the reason we have multiple communication channels-sirens, classroom alert devices, text messaging, web site, LCD screens, e-mails-so that we can be confident that we have overlapping means of communicating in the event of an emergency,” Bennett said.

To further protect students, VCU provides an escort service to take students where they need to go for free.

Sergeant Ron Brown with the Richmond Police Department said students should walk in numbers, not carry a lot of cash and stick to well-lit areas.