FACULTY
Dr. Mark E. Hastings, Ph.D., Private Practice / Leesburg
Seth C. Weston, Law Office of Seth C. Weston, PLC / Roanoke
COURSE PLANNER & MODERATOR
Seth C. Weston, Law Office of Seth C. Weston, PLC / Roanoke
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Dr. Mark E. Hastings, Ph.D., Private Practice / Leesburg
Dr. Mark Hastings, Ph.D., CSOPT, is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Certified Sex Offender Treatment Provider in the Commonwealth of Virginia with 20+ years of experience conducting a wide range of forensic psychological evaluations and providing expert testimony. Dr. Hastings has a private practice conducting forensic psychological evaluations throughout the mid-Atlantic region with a particular emphasis on sex offender evaluations. He has been conducting Sexually Violent Predators (SVP) evaluations for the CRC, defense, and OAG since 2007, and he has been conducting Sexual Dangerous Persons (SDP) evaluations for the court and United States Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of North Carolina since 2010. Dr. Hastings also works as a Court Psychologist at the Loudoun County Mental Health Center, where he has been conducting court-ordered forensic psychological evaluations for the past 20 years, including presentence sex offender (§ 19.2-300), sanity at the time of the offense, and competency to stand trial evaluations. He has previously provided outpatient and inpatient sex offender treatment as well as treatment for personality disorders, anger management, and domestic violence.
Dr. Hastings is also an Assistant Research Professor at George Mason University, where he conducts research on violence risk, psychopathy, offender treatment, and recidivism. His research has been presented at national-level scientific meetings such as the American Psychological Association, American Society of Criminology, and American Psychology-Law Society, and published in peer-reviewed journals. He has also taught undergraduate and graduate-level courses in forensic psychology and assessment and provided forensic psychology-related training at both the local and state levels.
Seth C. Weston, Law Office of Seth C. Weston / Roanoke
Seth C. Weston is a sole practitioner operating his own law firm, the Law Office of Seth C. Weston, PLC, in Roanoke. Mr. Weston has had a unique legal career that has seen him go from patrolling the streets around the U.S. Supreme Court as a police officer to presenting a case to the U.S. Supreme Court as a lawyer after it granted certiorari based upon his argument during a criminal trial in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia. He was a police officer with the Metropolitan Police Department, Washington, DC, for approximately 12 years, serving as a patrol officer, an investigator in the First District Gun Recovery Unit (a vice unit investigating illegal firearms), a patrol Sergeant, an Agent in the Office of Internal Affairs, and ended his career as a detective Sergeant in the Seventh District. Mr. Weston received numerous honors and awards throughout his career, including being recognized nationally as a “Top Cop” by the National Association of Police Organizations for his investigative work in a pipe bombing case, which was featured on America’s Most Wanted. He accomplished all this while attending the George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School at night and working full time as a law enforcement officer.
In 2003, Mr. Weston began his career as a lawyer as an Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney for the City of Roanoke, after which he opened his own law practice in 2006. He regularly tries cases in all levels of federal and state courts throughout the greater Roanoke Valley and Southwest Virginia and has appeared before and argued cases at all levels of the Virginia appellate court system as well as the United States Supreme Court. He is a Past President of the Board of Governors of the Criminal Law Section of the Virginia State Bar, and a Past President of the Virginia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (VACDL). Lastly, and most importantly, he is blessed with an incredible wife and three beautiful children and is thankful every day for them.