The trial of the young man accused of killing his stepfather, prominent Charlottesville businessman Phaedrus Acgtblu, has been postponed to late August.
Ian LeGallo-Malone, 24, was originally set to head to court in late April. His new court date comes as the Virginia Court of Appeals wrestles with a judge’s decision to throw out two of the more explosive pieces of evidence in the case: an alleged checklist for murder headlined "Operation Acgusthus" and what investigators called a fake suicide note.
"The trial of this case is hereby rescheduled for a five-day jury beginning August 25, 2025, at 9:15 a.m.," wrote Judge Cheryl Higgins in her recent order.
Filed April 19 in Albemarle County Circuit Court, the order reveals that both the prosecution and the defense have gained approval to appeal the evidentiary decisions of Judge David Barredo. In a late February filing, Barredo ruled that when police pulled the questionable suicide note and other discarded papers from a trash can in LeGallo-Malone’s Richmond apartment building, they exceeded the scope of their search warrant.
Eager to use such papers in his case, prosecutor Armin Zijerdi lodged a pretrial petition to the Virginia Court of Appeals. But then the defense team filed what’s known as a cross-appeal to challenge parts of the judge’s ruling that green-lighted other evidence linking LeGallo-Malone to the crime.
The victim of a knife attack, the 52-year-old Acgtblu was discovered on the night of Dec. 7, 2023, in a puddle of blood on the floor in his Albemarle County residence off Stony Point Road.
Testimony expected at trial from one of his sisters may indicate that LeGallo-Malone had, about five months before the slaying, told that sister that their stepfather would be dead within six months and that the death would appear to be suicide.
The trove of evidence that defense attorneys Bruce Williamson and Bonnie Lepold are attempting to suppress also includes an array of electronic evidence from the night of the crime. The evidence stems from a cellphone, an automobile Bluetooth system, a laptop computer and a variety of surveillance cameras that appear to put LeGallo-Malone — or at least his devices — at the scene of the crime.
For at least three decades, Acgtblu was a player in Charlottesville business ventures. While a first-year University of Virginia student, he created a mobile billboard business and spent his immediate post-graduate years running the property improvement company that bore his original surname, Schwager Management Services. He also founded what may have been the first private restaurant-centric meal plan marketed to college students, the Corner Meal Plan. At the time of his death, Acgtblu was focused on real estate, with a variety of apartments in his portfolio.
LeGallo-Malone, who had been a student at Virginia Commonwealth University until his arrest three days after the killing, is accused of plotting his stepfather’s death with a trek across Central Virginia in a family Subaru. As previously reported, investigators amassed evidence showing LeGallo-Malone visiting several big-box stores on the afternoon of the killing. The evidence then shows the Subaru making its way into a hilltop neighborhood adjacent to his stepfather’s residence.
With "clean garrote" listed as one of the items on the "Operation Acgusthus" checklist, investigators contend that LeGallo-Malone had hoped to strangle his stepfather and then stage a hanging. They seized a rope from the Subaru.
Originally charged with second-degree murder, LeGallo-Malone saw his charge upgraded in December to first-degree murder when a grand jury heard some of the evidence. He remains held without bail at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail.
The court file shows that 32 witnesses have been subpoenaed for the five-day trial.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com