Criminal - Leaving Accident Scene - Victim’s Injury 
Published: November 10, 2008
Where a woman got out of her car and walked back to ask defendant if he was OK after he rear-ended her car with his pickup truck, and her vehicle suffered only $400 in damages, there was insufficient evidence that defendant was aware of any personal injury to the woman, and his conviction of felony [...]
Domestic Relations - Divorce Grounds - Equitable Distribution - Spousal Support
Published: November 10, 2008
A husband, who with wife has litigated divorce issues for years, and now complains to the Court of Appeals about division of marital property, spousal support and grounds for divorce in an appeal that includes a 6,000-page joint appendix, has his appeal rejected by the Court of Appeals.
Because multiple grounds for divorce existed, the circuit [...]
Negligence - Charitable Immunity - University Physicians
Published: November 10, 2008
The Supreme Court of Virginia holds that Eastern Virginia Medical School Academic Physicians and Surgeons Health Services Foundation does not have charitable immunity in these negligence actions.
Judges in Norfolk had ruled in three separate cases that the foundation has such immunity before the Supreme Court issued its decision that the University of Virginia Health Services [...]
Criminal - Miranda Warnings - Custody - Gun In Car
Published: November 10, 2008
The Supreme Court of Virginia reverses a Court of Appeals judgment upholding a defendant’s conviction of weapon possession because, contrary to the lower court ruling, defendant was in custody and should have received Miranda warnings when an officer questioned him regarding the presence of a weapon in the vehicle.
We disagree with the Court of Appeals [...]
Criminal - Drug Conviction - Intent To Distribute - Principal In 2nd Degree
Published: November 10, 2008
Although drugs and drug paraphernalia were in plain view in the house of a woman who lived there and was outside when police arrived with a search warrant, the woman cannot be convicted as a principal in the second degree of cocaine possession with intent to distribute, the Virginia Supreme Court says; even if she [...]
Criminal - First-Offender Statute - Cocaine Conviction
Published: November 10, 2008
The Supreme Court of Virginia reverses a judgment allowing revocation of the first-offender status under Va. Code § 18.2-251 of a defendant convicted of cocaine possession.
The Court of Appeals held that while the circuit court’s Dec. 21, 2004, order granting defendant first-offender status explicitly ended her supervised probation on Dec. 21, 2005, and that the [...]
Criminal - Hit & Run - Police Pursuit - Striking Police Vehicle
Published: November 10, 2008
The Virginia Supreme Court affirms the felony hit-and-run conviction of a driver who was being pursued by police for speeding, and who, after being stopped, rammed one police car in front of him, backed up to strike a second police vehicle, then forward to again strike the first police car.
On appeal, defendant contends his conduct [...]
Criminal - Embezzlement - Indictment - Fatal Variance
Published: November 10, 2008
A physician who withheld funds from his employees’ pay for state income taxes, but did not forward the withheld tax payments to the Commonwealth of Virginia, is guilty of embezzlement under Va. Code § 18.2-111, the Virginia Supreme Court says.
Defendant asserts the evidence was insufficient to support his embezzlement convictions. According to defendant, the funds [...]
Criminal - Rape - Flight - Jury Instruction
Published: November 10, 2008
At defendant’s trial for rape of a female friend, the trial court erred in instructing the jury that it could consider defendant’s departure from the woman’s apartment after the crimes had been committed as evidence of flight to avoid detection, apprehension or arrest, and defendant’s conviction is reversed by the Supreme Court of Virginia.
The record [...]
Search & Seizure - Traffic Stop - Peeling Inspection Sticker
Published: November 10, 2008
A police officer’s stop of a vehicle violated the Fourth Amendment because the officer stopped the vehicle solely because of his brief observation that the vehicle safety inspection sticker was “partially peeling,” and the drugs and gun found in the car should have been suppressed, the Supreme Court of Virginia says.
The en banc Court of [...]
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