Crime & Safety
New Charges in Road Rage Fight That Led to Death; Victim’s Daughter Speaks Out
The family of the late Wiliam O'Brien is not happy with new, lesser charges revealed Thursday.
New charges have been filed against Librado Cena for the road-rage fight in April that caused the death of William Hays O’Brien, according to law enforcement.
The Commonwealth Attorney’s Office in Richmond confirmed that a multi-jurisdictional grand jury returned an indictment of assault and battery against Cena, 57, Thursday for the blow to the head Cena gave to O’Brien, 63, on April 16 during a fight outside the Best Buy store at the Fair City Mall. A medical examiner said the blow caused a traumatic brain injury that ultimately led to O’Brien’s death 10 days later.
Now, O’Brien’s daughter said she is finally ready to speak out about how she says “the justice system has failed” her family—her and her brother, and her young baby, whom she named after the grandfather who never got to meet him.
Find out what's happening in Fairfax Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The Fight That Took William O’Brien
According to a police affidavit, Cena told a City of Fairfax police detective that he and William O’Brien were both driving on Pickett Road near Fair City Mall in Fairfax City on April 16, with O’Brien’s car behind Cena’s. Cena alleged that O’Brien honked at him several times, possibly because he wasn’t accelerating fast enough when red lights turned green. Cena told police he became “irritated” and decided to follow O’Brien and confront him.
Find out what's happening in Fairfax Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The affidavit said O’Brien then parked at his destination, the Best Buy store at Fair City Mall.
According to the affidavit, police viewed security footage from a camera outside Best Buy and described what they saw—Cena “sprinted” from his car, which he parked near O’Brien’s, approached O’Brien from behind, and struck him in the head. The affidavit also said the video showed O’Brien “defend himself.” A passer-by then broke up the fight, and O’Brien entered the store.
A Best Buy employee interviewed by police described what O’Brien said about the fight when he entered the store. The employee also stated that O’Brien had “red blotchy marks” on one side of his face.
Hours later, O’Brien called 9-1-1 from his home with a powerful headache and said he “couldn’t think straight.” Paramedics arrived and found him unconscious and unresponsive in his home.
O’Brien then spent several days in the hospital and underwent surgery, but died from what the medical examiner called “complications from blunt force trauma to the head” 10 days after the incident.
Cena was spotted driving in his car two days later and arrested for malicious wounding. In interviews with police, he said the fight was “even” on both sides and that he felt O’Brien instigated it, according to the affidavit.
The Initial Charges Didn’t Stick
After O’Brien died, City of Fairfax Police turned the case over to the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office, and said it would be up to prosecutors as to whether or not the charges against Cena would change.
On Oct. 1, prosecutors decided not to proceed with charges of malicious wounding against Cena. Brian McLain of the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office said they “did not feel the charges fit the parameters of the case.”
Kelly O’Brien, William’s daughter, said Friday she was told by attorneys that prosecutors had to be able to prove that Cena intended to cause her father a traumatic brain injury in order for the charges to stick, and that it didn’t seem to her like they felt they could do that.
“But he is not innocent,” Kelly O’Brien said. “He followed him, and he ran up behind him like a coward and hit him in the head. How can anyone say he didn’t intend to hurt him?”
Kelly O’Brien said, “So he was honked at. So what? Getting honked at once—or even two or three or even four times—is not a good enough reason to follow someone like that and attack them. I get honked at all the time, and sometimes it even makes me cry, but I have never followed someone and attacked them.”
“The justice system failed us in this case,” she added.
Kelly O’Brien said she was present at the hearing Thursday when her family found out the new charges against Cena are assault and battery—a misdemeanor that can carry a jail sentence up to 12 months, along with a $2,500 fine.
“To me, anything less than the maximum of one year in jail is unacceptable—well, even that is unacceptable, but it’s what we’re stuck with,” Kelly O’Brien said. “Anything less than the maximum, to me, will be like getting away with murder.”
Kelly O’Brien said she will be present again at the next court date for Cena, which will likely be in early December, when they will find out if Cena will be pleading out to the new charges of assault and battery. In the meantime, she has been told Cena has been released on his own recognizance.
At the time of the incident in April, Cena was employed as the director of religious education at St. Leo the Great Catholic Church in Fairfax. Since then, Patch is told he is no longer employed there.
FOLLOW FAIRFAX CITY PATCH FOR THE LATEST NEWS AND EVENTS!
Facebook | Twitter | Daily & Breaking News E-mail UpdatesGet more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
