No Privacy Interest for Vehicle Claimant

SORNA Challenges Miss the Mark

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 11, 2013
Tags: Criminal, Judge Michael F. Urbanski, U.S. District Court - Western District

A Roanoke U.S. District Court rejects defendant’s jurisdictional and constitutional challenges to a charge that he failed to register under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2250. Among his other challenges, defendant takes issue with the use of all capital letters for his name, which he argues denotes [...]

Lawyer Pleads Fifth, Motion in Limine Denied

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 11, 2013
Tags: Criminal, Judge James P. Jones, U.S. District Court - Western District

In this prosecution of a former notary public and court reporter for his alleged role in recording false statements to assist a lawyer under investigation for drug distribution, the Abingdon U.S. District Court denies defendant court reporter’s motion in limine asking the court to find a way for defendant to introduce an alleged exculpatory statement [...]

No Due Process Claim from Contraband Cigarette Sting

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 10, 2013
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Criminal, Judge G. Steven Agee

The sale of untaxed cigarettes by government agents during a two-year investigation of trafficking in contraband cigarettes was not so “outrageous” and “shocking” as to violate defendant’s right to due process, and the 4th Circuit affirms his convictions under 18 U.S.C. § 371 and § 2342(a). Significant state-by-state disparities in the amount of taxes levied [...]

Forced Peremptory Strikes Were Error

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 6, 2013
Tags: Criminal, Judge Stephen R. McCullough, Virginia Court of Appeals

The Court of Appeals reverses and remands defendant’s jury trial conviction for sexual battery: trial court erred in denying defense requests to strike two teachers for cause, requiring use of peremptory strikes; both women expressed concerns but the trial court cut off questioning that might have eliminated doubt as to their impartiality. Defendant was charged [...]

Appeal Defaulted on Intent to Distribute

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 6, 2013
Tags: Criminal, Judge Teresa M. Chafin, Virginia Court of Appeals

The Court of Appeals affirms defendant’s conviction for possessing cocaine with intent to distribute but reverses and remands his five-year suspended sentence for possessing marijuana as excessive; defendant’s sufficiency objection on intent to distribute cocaine is waived by his failing present it below. Defendant was staying at his mother’s house with another woman when police [...]

Signing Admissible on Sex Crimes

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 6, 2013
Tags: Criminal, Judge D. Arthur Kelsey, Virginia Court of Appeals

Defendant is not entitled to reversal of his bench trial convictions for sex crimes by attacking the competency of his nine-year-old deaf-mute victim, the Court of Appeals says; the trial court took care to establish victim’s competency and the record evidence supports his convictions; no adverse inference is due when defendant’s objection caused exclusion of [...]

Court Trims Restitution in Conspiracy Case

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 6, 2013
Tags: Criminal, Judge James P. Jones, U.S. District Court - Western District

In sentencing defendant on his guilty plea to conspiring to utter false financial instruments in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 514(a)(2) and 371, an Abingdon U.S. District Court orders defendant to pay $921.65, or the face value of the four checks he cashed at a local Wal-Mart as part of a 70-plus-member check-cashing conspiracy in [...]

Stop OK for Driving on Highway Fog Lines

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 5, 2013
Tags: Judge David J. Novak, Traffic Offenses, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

The Virginia Code backs a Fort Lee police officer’s view that a driver violates Virginia’s “single lane of travel” statute if he drives on, but not over, a highway boundary line, and a Richmond U.S. District Magistrate Judge denies defendant’s motion to suppress in this DUI prosecution. In addition to defendant having failed to maintain [...]

Extra Computers Disclosed in Child Porn Case

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 5, 2013
Tags: Criminal, Judge James C. Cacheris, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A defendant is not entitled to a new trial on charges of receipt and possession of child pornography based on his contentions that the government violated Brady v. Maryland by failing to timely disclose exculpatory evidence purportedly located on computers belonging to defendant’s father; the Alexandria U.S. District Court also rejects defendant’s claim that the [...]