Handcuffing Not Arrest

Boyfriend Was ‘Person Responsible’ for Child Neglect

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 17, 2012
Tags: Criminal, Judge Glen A. Huff, Virginia Court of Appeals

Although defendant claimed he was not a “person responsible” for the care of a child under Va. Code § 18.2-371.1(A), he lived with the infant’s mother, helped care for the infant and identified himself as the infant’s “father” and the child’s guarantor on hospital forms, and the Court of Appeals upholds defendant’s conviction for child [...]

Disc Compensable Not Depression

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 15, 2012
Tags: Judge Glen A. Huff, Virginia Court of Appeals, Workers’ Comp

In consolidated appeals, the Court of Appeals affirms decisions of the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission awarding compensation for employee’s disc injury and medical treatment and denying compensation for employee’s depression as not work-related; credible record evidence supports causation of the disc injury and the treating physician’s referral authorized treatment with that physician. Employee had a [...]

‘Gradation’ Allowed Drug-Charge Joinder

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 12, 2012
Tags: Criminal, Judge Glen A. Huff, Virginia Court of Appeals

At defendant’s trial for providing cocaine to an informant, the trial court did not err in declining to sever charges based on two separate drug buys, as evidence of the first buy was necessary to prove the later buy was a second or subsequent offense; the Court of Appeals affirms defendant’s convictions for drug distribution, [...]

Deceased Mother No Defense to Prescription Fraud

By Deborah Elkins
Published: December 1, 2011
Tags: Criminal, Judge Glen A. Huff, Virginia Court of Appeals

The Court of Appeals affirmed defendant’s bench conviction for attempted prescription fraud; the totality of evidence was sufficient and the trial court was entitled to reject as incredible defendant’s claim that his mother instructed him to get the prescription for his ailing brother. In late August 2008, defendant presented a prescription for a controlled narcotic [...]

Ends of Justice Exception Not Met

By Deborah Elkins
Published: December 1, 2011
Tags: Criminal, Judge Glen A. Huff, Virginia Court of Appeals

Defendant is not entitled to have her bench trial conviction for misdemeanor child neglect reversed, the Court of Appeals says; defendant as a matter of trial strategy did not object to reduction of the charges and cannot bring this case within the “ends of justice” exception to Rule 5A:18. In July 2010, defendant was charged [...]

Felon With Gun Has Three-Count Conviction

By Deborah Elkins
Published: December 1, 2011
Tags: Criminal, Judge Glen A. Huff, Virginia Court of Appeals

A convicted felon who conceded at trial that he possessed a firearm on three separate occasions from April 9, 2010, after he stole it and as he attempted to sell it, until he sold the gun on April 23, 2010, can be convicted of three counts – not one count – of possession of a [...]

Beating Victim Gave Up Property

By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 14, 2011
Tags: Criminal, Judge Glen A. Huff, Virginia Court of Appeals

The Court of Appeals affirms defendant’s bench trial conviction for robbery following his participation in a beating that resulted in conviction for malicious wounding; it was defendant’s violence that caused victim to relinquish his property. One February evening, defendant, victim and another friend gathered at victim’s apartment where they drank alcohol and played music. After [...]