Virginia Lawyers Weekly

Finding a storybook end for drug-dog tales

Published: August 11, 2008

When the cops have called out the drug dogs, a lawyer’s choice of defense can make all the difference, as demonstrated by two recent Virginia Beach cases involving K-9 collars.
The circumstances of the charges again Gloria Jean Ellis and Justin Jesse Middlebrooks were remarkably similar. But the nuances of their arguments on appeal led to [...]

Protecting client assets when a bank fails

Published: August 11, 2008

Did you see any law firm managing partners among the nervous depositors in line at IndyMac bank on July 11? After U.S. Senator Charles Schumer publicly mused about what would happen if IndyMac depositors suddenly pulled their deposits, spooked customers did just that, forcing a government seizure. Depositors – individuals, businesses and law firms – [...]

Tourists still going to Outer Banks despite gasoline prices

Published: August 11, 2008

MANTEO, N.C.—More people visited the Outer Banks in June than a year ago despite soaring gasoline prices and other impediments to tourism, The Virginian-Pilot reported last week.
The Outer Banks this year also have suffered from drifting smoke from two wildfires, closed beaches and the troubled economy.
Statistics compiled by the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau show a [...]

Portsmouth sues cable provider over failure to build studio

Published: August 11, 2008

PORTSMOUTH—The City of Ports-mouth has filed a legal complaint claiming Cox Communications violated terms of its cable franchise there by not maintaining a studio for “local public, educational and governmental programming.’’
Cox spokeswoman Leigh Ann Woisard says a studio always has been available for the city’s use in Chesapeake. She said the agreement, which was signed [...]

Child molester seeks clemency based on victim’s recantation

Published: August 11, 2008

ROANOKE—A convicted child molester whose accuser has recanted her testimony is asking Governor Tim Kaine for clemency.
Aleck Carpitcher filed a clemency petition Tuesday.
In 1999, a Roanoke County jury convicted Carpitcher of five sex crimes after his girlfriend’s 11-year-old daughter testified that he fondled her. Carpitcher was sentenced to 38 years in prison.
The girl later said [...]

Va. senators ask for temporary waiver of ethanol mandate

Published: August 11, 2008

Virginia’s two U.S. senators are asking the government to ease off the federal ethanol mandate to help the state’s poultry, dairy and cattle industries.
The farming community has complained that too much of the nation’s corn crop is being diverted to biofuel. That’s driving up the cost of feed.
A federal mandate passed in December diverts about [...]

Prince William detention of immigrants more expensive than county expected

Published: August 11, 2008

Guatemalan sentenced for transporting illegal aliens

Published: August 11, 2008

ROANOKE—A Guatemalan native who admitted transporting illegal immigrants up Interstate 81 has been sentenced to 21 months in federal prison.
Pedro Antonio Mateo was sentenced last week in U.S. District Court in Roanoke. He pleaded guilty in May.
In April, a Virginia State Police trooper stopped a sport utility vehicle on the interstate in Botetourt County and [...]

Federal inmate charged in alleged Holocaust scam

Published: August 11, 2008

The government says an inmate at the Federal Correctional Institute in Petersburg has been charged with running an elaborate scheme to cash in bank accounts intended for the families of Holocaust victims.
The accused, 49-year-old John Kenneth Leighnor Jr., was indicted last week on three counts of mail fraud and eight counts of aggravated identity theft.
According [...]

VSB Disciplinary Actions

Published: August 11, 2008

On July 24, 2008, the Virginia State Bar Disciplinary Board summarily suspended the Virginia law license of Richard A. Counts of Johnson City, Tenn. The suspension was based on a decision by the Supreme Court of Tennessee on April 7, 2008, to suspend Counts’s license in that state for 30 days. The board ordered Counts [...]