Authorities in Caroline County arrested a ninth suspect yesterday on a charge of murder by mob.

He is the fifth male juvenile to be charged in the Nov. 10 shooting of Raquel Hunter, 16. Four adults were charged, too.

Until this week, only Lashawn Montque Monroe, 23, of Ruther Glen had been arrested in Hunter's death. He was charged soon after the killing with murder and use of a firearm in a felony.

This week, authorities charged Monroe, along with three other adults and five minors, with murder by mob, or lynching.

A law addressing lynching has been on the books in Virginia since 1928. Under Virginia law, lynching means any act of violence by a mob on another person that results in the death of that person.

Virginia law defines a mob as a group of people "assembled for the purpose and with the intention of committing an assault or a battery upon any person or an act of violence . . . without authority of law."

Caroline Commonwealth's Attorney Anthony G. "Tony" Spencer said yesterday that he plans to drop the first two charges against Monroe and focus prosecution on the mob charge.

Hunter was shot in the head that night as a birthday party was ending for another 16-year-old. His body was found on the ground outside the Madison Ruritan Club in Ladysmith.

Spencer said yesterday that a person does not have to physically harm someone to be guilty of murder by mob.

He declined to further discuss the case. A member of Hunter's family also declined to comment yesterday.

It is unclear how often such a charge has been brought. A spokeswoman from the Virginia Supreme Court said that relevant statistics could not be made available yesterday.

Carl Tobias, a professor of law at University of Richmond, said it appears that the murder by mob law is rarely used.

"You really don't have much by way of a definitive interpretation of what that statute means because the [Virginia] Supreme Court hasn't decided many cases involving the meaning of the statute," Tobias said.

In 1997, a teenage gang member pleaded guilty to second-degree murder by mob in the shooting of a man after a Christmas party in Dale City.

In the Caroline case, authorities did not identify five of the defendants because each one is either a minor or was under 18 at the time of the killing.

Along with Monroe, the following three adults were charged with murder by mob: Antoine Johnson, 18; Dwight Leo Smith II, 19; and Deon Alexander Terrell, 19.

All nine defendants are from Caroline.

Spencer said he plans to seek indictments against the defendants in coming weeks.
Contact Reed Williams at (804) 649-6332 or rwilliams@timesdispatch.com.