Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr. « Virginia Lawyers Weekly

Raised Chair Injury Compensable

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 30, 2012
Tags: Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr., Virginia Court of Appeals, Workers’ Comp

The Court of Appeals reverses and remands a majority decision of the commission denying benefits to a correctional officer injured stepping down from a raised chair; the commission applied an inapposite analysis comparing the raised chair to stairs when another case supports that the injury arose out of employment under the unique circumstances of this [...]

Residence, Car & Fund Are Separate

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 17, 2012
Tags: Domestic Relations, Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr., Virginia Court of Appeals

The Court of Appeals reverses the trial court’s equitable distribution award as to a residence, car and investment fund; wife failed to prove significant personal efforts substantially increased the home’s value and remand is necessary for a determination of the extent of marital property contributed and the record does not support classifying the car or [...]

Parental Rights Terminated for Abuse

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 12, 2012
Tags: Domestic Relations, Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr., Virginia Court of Appeals

The Court of Appeals upholds termination of a father’s parental rights to his three small children, based on sufficient evidence to support findings of abuse and neglect by the father.
Father is correct in his primary position that, consistent with Santosky v. Kramer, 455 U.S. 745 (1982), the department needed to prove each of its allegations [...]

Denial of Proximate Cause Instruction Harmless

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 10, 2012
Tags: Criminal, Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr., Virginia Court of Appeals

Defendant is not entitled to reversal of his jury trial conviction and one-year prison sentence for leaving the scene of an accident in violation of Va. Code § 46.2-894, the Court of Appeals says; the evidence proved defendant was a proximate cause of a motorcyclist running off the road and the denial of defendant’s requested [...]

Brief Insufficient on Translated Confession

By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 21, 2011
Tags: Criminal, Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr., Virginia Court of Appeals

The Court of Appeals affirms defendant’s jury trial convictions for eight counts of aggravated sexual battery and one count of indecent liberties; defendant failed to comply with Rule 5A:20(e) by providing legal authorities and arguments supporting his assignments of error relating to his translated confession and challenge to the sufficiency of evidence.
Defendant, who has limited [...]

Employee Stole Credit Card When Terminated

By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 17, 2011
Tags: Criminal, Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr., Virginia Court of Appeals

Employee, a Maryland resident, is not entitled to reversal of her bench trial conviction for credit card theft and fraud for lack of venue, the Court of Appeals holds; Virginia’s special venue statute for credit card theft and fraud places venue in Alexandria, Virginia where employee stole the credit card the day she was terminated. [...]

Court Upholds Dismissal of Parents’ Abuse Case

By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 14, 2011
Tags: Administrative, Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr., Virginia Court of Appeals

Parents who challenged emergency removal of their children after a fourth child died of neglect lose their appeal in the Court of Appeals; even assuming the initial hearing after the emergency removal was not held within five business days as required by Va. Code § 16.1-251(B), the circuit court did not err in denying the [...]

Singling Out Suspect Not Interrogation

By Deborah Elkins
Published: September 16, 2011
Tags: Criminal, Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr., Virginia Court of Appeals

The Court of Appeals reverses the trial court’s suppression of statements made without the warnings required by Miranda v. Arizona, as the totality of circumstances must be considered, not just one factor of singling defendant out for questioning; here several other factors weighed against finding a custodial interrogation.
Late one May evening Danville police responded to [...]

Conviction Affirmed for Explosives Possession

By Deborah Elkins
Published: September 13, 2011
Tags: Criminal, Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr., Virginia Court of Appeals

A defendant who told an FBI special agent that he “just liked to hear things go boom or to go bang” can be convicted of possessing or manufacturing explosive materials for keeping illegal chemicals, even though the commonwealth did not prove defendant intended to harm anyone; the Court of Appeals affirms defendant’s conviction under Va. [...]

Boys’ Report of Assault Was ‘Excited Utterance’

By Deborah Elkins
Published: August 16, 2011
Tags: Criminal, Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr., Virginia Court of Appeals

A teenage boy and his cousin who ran from a school playground to tell the boy’s father they had been confronted by three other boys who tried to rob them and pick a fight, and the boy had been hit “upside the head” by defendant, provided “excited utterances” that allowed the jury to hear the [...]

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