Todd Stone

About

Todd Stone is a trial lawyer in Richmond, VA.  He grew up in Harrisonburg, VA where he prosecuted criminal cases after law school. He moved to Richmond, VA to lead both the violent crimes unit and the drug prosecution team in two of the largest urban prosecutor's offices in Virginia.  In Henrico County, he was appointed as Special Counsel to the Multi-Jurisdiction Grand Jury for the City of Richmond & the Counties of Henrico, Hanover & Chesterfield.  In 1999, as a Special Assistant United States Attorney, he assisted in the prosecution of a “takeover” capital murder & bank robbery case.  This effort required about a year of preparation and after a lengthy successful trial he was presented with the Director’s Award from United States' Attorney General, The Hon. Janet Reno, in Washington, DC.  Stone's immediate supervisors were the Hon. James B. Comey, current Director of the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) and the Hon. Ken Melson, former acting Director of the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms).
Although he prosecuted numerous notable trials including murders, the Fan area serial rapist and multi-defendant gang violence & drug conspiracies, perhaps the most memorable was one he chose not to prosecute.  As a young prosecutor Stone was handed a high profile supermarket shooting case to prosecute.  He tenaciously prepared by visiting the scene, speaking with witnesses and reviewed numerous reports.  The cross-racial identification was shaky and when he uncovered evidence that strongly suggested the innocence of the young man, he dropped the case shortly before trial.  "A defense attorney's duties are to the client, but a prosecutor's duty is to the justice system as a whole.  That case was memorable and I've never had any regrets."
As a lawyer & partner at Stone, Cardwell & Dinkin, PLC, he handles a select number of cases in order to dedicate the time & attention that a case deserves.  His office is in the historic Columbian Block building above the cobblestone streets of Shockoe Slip in downtown Richmond, VA. where he works with two of Virginia's finest trial lawyers & former prosecutors, Claire Cardwell & Bill Dinkin.  Each of the partners at Stone, Cardwell & Dinkin, PLC, has received numerous peer based awards. Stone specifically has received the peer-voted “Superlawyer” for multiple years, the “Nation’s Top One Percent,” the “Top 100 Trial Lawyers,” the “Top Ten Attorneys,” the “Ten Best,” & as noted above, the Director's Award from U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno.
Todd Stone is regularly called as a legal analyst on multiple news outlets across Virginia & the U.S.  In the past, the list includes “NPR” National Public Radio, CNN, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, CBS This Morning & others. Most often he proudly serves central Virginia's two most historic & relied upon news sources, WTVR CBS6 television news & WRVA news radio 1140 AM.  WTVR was the first television station established south of Washington, DC.  WRVA, established in 1925, was one of the first radio stations in the U.S.
Outside of the law field, Stone advocates to help find a treatment or cure for a medical condition that affects his children.  He serves on the Board of Directors for the Myotonic Dystrophy Foundation (MDF).  The MDF is the only major "disease-specific" foundation in the U.S. that focuses on Myotonic Muscular Dystrophy (MMD).  The foundation has grown exponentially in recent years and is advancing important medical research.  There is genuine promise of a treatment within our own lifetime.  Because it's caused by an extra stutter in the DNA  scientists have focused on silencing that portion of the gene with some marked success.  Since there's nothing missing in the DNA, silencing the toxic RNA leaves a normally functioning system thus an effective treatment could actually reverse the disease symptoms (as opposed to just halting it's progression). This has been shown in recent years with treatments tested in animal models.