http://valawyersweekly.com VA Lawyers Weekly Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:00:05 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Police are skilled at getting defendants to talk, even when the accused know they should just button up. Sometimes, however, the officers don’t have to lift a finger to gather the damning evidence. The Virginia Court of Appeals today confronts one such arrestee who insisted on talking even when the cops ... http://valawyersweekly.com/blog/2010/03/16/the-mouth-runneth-over%e2%80%a6/ A freeze on filling judicial vacancies through June 2012. Increased – but reduced from earlier proposals – civil filing fees for circuit and general district courts. No public defender offices for the counties of Chesterfield, Henrico and Prince William. Those were some of the items affecting Virginia’s judicial system in the budget ... http://valawyersweekly.com/blog/2010/03/15/judicial-freeze-and-higher-fees/ Wired magazine published a piece last fall on the debate over the systematic vaccination of children. In the article, a leading physician said of a critic: “She lies.” That statement, part of a lengthy examination of an emotionally charged topic, was the expression of an opinion, which is protected by ... http://valawyersweekly.com/blog/2010/03/15/statement-%e2%80%98she-lies%e2%80%99-was-protected-opinion/ WASHINGTON (AP) When 3-year-old Brandyn Coppedge became entangled on a window blind cord, it took less than a minute for the toddler to strangle. His father says the safety device designed to prevent such a tragedy had broken, but the window blind was never recalled. “They need to make the product ... http://valawyersweekly.com/blog/2010/03/15/advocates-agency-urge-safer-window-blind-cords/ A York County prosecutor and her former assistant have been charged with ethical misconduct in a death penalty case that became a focal point for disgruntled defense lawyers. A Virginia State Bar subcommittee has certified ethics charges to the VSB’s Disciplinary Board against York County Commonwealth’s Attorney Eileen M. Addison and ... http://valawyersweekly.com/blog/2010/03/15/york-prosecutors-face-bar-discipline/ The Virginia Court of Appeals has read back into the state’s adoption statute a phrase that the General Assembly eliminated in 2006. The ruling last week in Todd v. Copeland (VLW 010-7-083) “undoes at least 15 years of statutory changes” pursued by the adoption bar, said Colleen Marea Quinn, an adoption ... http://valawyersweekly.com/blog/2010/03/11/appeals-court-adds-requirement-back-to-adoption-statute/ The federal judges of the Western District of Virginia this month dropped a long-standing gag rule in adopting a set of local rules for the first time. The change brings new freedom for criminal lawyers who were previously barred from disclosing any details of their cases not available in public ... http://valawyersweekly.com/blog/2010/03/10/standing-%e2%80%98gag-order%e2%80%99-dropped-from-final-wd-local-rules/ The executive director of the Indigent Defense Commission is proposing elimination of the four-attorney appellate defender office as a way of addressing the budget shortfall. “They’ve done a really good job,” said David J. Johnson, the executive director, said of the office. “It’s a loss, no question about it.” Johnson suggested that ... http://valawyersweekly.com/blog/2010/03/09/appellate-defender%e2%80%99s-office-faces-the-budget-ax/ The Senate and House Courts of Justice Committees interviewed nine candidates yesterday for eight possible judicial vacancies – possible because the House of Delegates’ version of the state budget puts a freeze on filling circuit and district court vacancies through June 2012. The candidates for the vacancy created by the retirement ... http://valawyersweekly.com/blog/2010/03/09/courts-committees-interview-judge-candidates-in-case-positions-are-funded/ The pitched battle between bail bondsmen and advocates of pretrial services ended last week with the advocates taking the field. Last Monday, the Senate Courts of Justice Committee voted to pass by for the week House Bill 728, which would have barred magistrates and judges from placing defendants under supervision by ... http://valawyersweekly.com/blog/2010/03/09/pretrial-services-prevail-in-fight-with-bail-bondsmen/