Charles Severance, the Ashburn man wanted for questioning in the deaths of three Alexandria residents over the last decade, is going back to a Loudoun County courtroom Wednesday on an unrelated charge.
Severance, 53, is charged with illegally possessing firearms despite a felony record. His lawyers, though, say the charge is a sham to hold Severance while Alexandria police continue to investigate the unsolved murders there.
Alexandria Police have tried to question Severance but have declined to identify him as a suspect.
Severance's lawyer filed court papers last week saying the firearms in question in the Loudoun case actually belonged to Severance's live-in girlfriend. He said prosecutors' only evidence that Severance possessed them is that he once cleaned the weapons for her.
A criminal complaint said that the woman Severance lived with, Linda Robra, told police she bought two .22 caliber firearms for Severance, a convicted felon, who then he left town with them.
A judge will decide at a preliminary hearing Wednesday in Leesburg whether prosecutors have enough evidence to seek a grand jury indictment.
