Judge Restores Gun Rights to Former Portsmouth Officer Stephen Rankin

A Mistaken Signature and a Closed Window in Portsmouth

A substitute judge restored the right to possess a firearm to Stephen Rankin, a former Portsmouth police officer convicted in 2016 of voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of 18-year-old William Chapman II outside of a Walmart. The ruling on Thursday followed a procedural misstep by the Portsmouth Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, which initially consented to the petition before attempting a swift reversal.

The timeline of the restoration centers on a series of administrative actions that played out across late summer. Tim Anderson, the attorney representing Rankin, sent the petition for firearm rights restoration to the Portsmouth Commonwealth’s Attorney in late July, more than eight years after Rankin finished serving a 2 1/2-year prison sentence. Rankin had been charged with murder following the April 2015 shooting of Chapman outside the Frederick Boulevard Walmart, but a jury ultimately convicted him of voluntary manslaughter.

At a Sept. 4 hearing, Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Mawiyah Mason signed off on the request. Within hours, Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Hallie Hogfeldt filed a motion to reopen and deny the petition, arguing that returning a gun to Rankin “does not serve the ends of justice or public safety.” In his filing, the ex-officer stated he required a firearm for personal and family protection.

Weighing Past Incidents and Procedural Strictures

Hogfeldt’s motion raised concerns about public safety and pointed to a previous incident involving Rankin. While responding to a burglary call in Old Towne, Rankin shot 26-year-old Kirill Denyakin, though a grand jury declined to indict the officer in that case. Hogfeldt also maintained that her office had not received the petition in July and lacked sufficient time to prepare opposition, an assertion that conflicted with proof of service documentation.

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Portsmouth prosecutors conceded that Mason made an error in signing the agreement. Anderson countered by pointing to other instances from the current year where the prosecutor’s office raised no objections to restoring gun rights to individuals convicted of violent crimes, including a 2000 murder conviction. Prosecutors, Anderson argued in court filings, “cannot plausibly maintain that violent-felony history and firearm involvement are categorically disqualifying.”

Judge Restores Gun Rights to Former Portsmouth Officer Stephen Rankin

Because judges of the Portsmouth Circuit Court recused themselves, the Virginia Supreme Court appointed retired Virginia Beach judge Thomas Padrick on Sept. 18 to oversee the matter. Padrick previously presided over the case of former Portsmouth Officer Vincent McClean, whose charges were dismissed in 2023.

Under Virginia law, firearm restoration proceedings operate as civil cases requiring judges to enter a modifying order within 21 days or forfeit jurisdiction. Following the Sept. 4 order, no judge modified the ruling within the statutory window. “They sat on their hands,” Anderson said during Thursday’s hearing. “And so did I, because I know the rule. When Sept. 25 passed, this case ended.”

Confronted with the jurisdictional limit, Padrick denied the prosecution’s motion to reverse the restoration. In a statement following the ruling, the Portsmouth Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office maintained that it remains “steadfast in upholding the law and protecting the interests of our Portsmouth community members.”