Albo: Race for high court is wide open 
By Alan Cooper
Published: January 10, 2011
Tags: General Assembly, Judge D. Arthur Kelsey, Judge Joseph W. Milam Jr., Judge Pamela S. Baskervill, Judge Randolph A. Beales, Judge Robert J. Humphreys, Judgeships, Justice Lawrence L. Koontz Jr., Justice William C. Mims, Old Dominion Bar Association, Supreme Court of Virginia News, Virginia Women Attorneys Association
Candidates for a Supreme Court vacancy can begin politicking in earnest now that bar groups have evaluated them and the legislative session is about to begin, according to Del. David B. Albo, the Fairfax Republican who chairs the House of Delegates’ Courts of Justice Committee. The nature of the selection process makes it imperative that [...]
Search & Seizure – Traffic Stop – Anonymous Tip – Outstanding Warrants
By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 11, 2010
Tags: Justice Lawrence L. Koontz Jr., Search & Seizure, Supreme Court of Virginia
The Supreme Court of Virginia affirms defendant’s conviction on cocaine and marijuana charges, based on evidence discovered pursuant to a traffic stop police made after they got an anonymous tip that a black male, about 5’7” to 5’9”, with outstanding arrest warrants, was driving a tan Jeep Cherokee with wood grain side paneling at a [...]
Criminal – Sexually Violent Predator – Civil Commitment – Mental Health Expert
By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 8, 2010
Tags: Criminal, Justice Lawrence L. Koontz Jr., Supreme Court of Virginia
A respondent subject to civil commitment as a sexually violent predator could change his decision to cooperate with a mental health assessment, a choice he made earlier without benefit of counsel, so that he could present expert evidence at the commitment hearing, and the trial court erred in refusing to consider whether the respondent could [...]
Criminal – Child Endangerment – Drugs In Household
By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 8, 2010
Tags: Criminal, Justice Lawrence L. Koontz Jr., Supreme Court of Virginia
Although the commonwealth could not convict a woman of possession of drugs found in a wardrobe in her home’s master bedroom, which would have required proof that she knew about the drugs, she nevertheless could be convicted of three counts of child endangerment, says the Supreme Court of Virginia. Because the jury acquitted defendant of [...]
10 seek seat on high court
By Alan Cooper
Published: November 1, 2010
Tags: Judge D. Arthur Kelsey, Judge Joseph W. Milam Jr., Judge Pamela S. Baskervill, Judge Randolph A. Beales, Judge Robert J. Humphreys, Judgeships, Justice Lawrence L. Koontz Jr., Supreme Court of Virginia News, Virginia State Bar
Ten candidates, including four members of the Virginia Court of Appeals, have told the Virginia State Bar they are interested in filling the vacancy on the Supreme Court of Virginia that will be created by the retirement of Justice Lawrence L. Koontz Jr. Two circuit judges, three appellate specialists and a civil defense lawyer round [...]
Criminal – Death Penalty – Double Jeopardy
By Deborah Elkins
Published: September 22, 2010
Tags: Criminal, Justice Lawrence L. Koontz Jr., Supreme Court of Virginia
In this appeal by defendant of his four murder convictions and death sentences, the Supreme Court of Virginia holds that the imposition of two death sentences upon defendant for the convictions under Va. Code §§ 18.2-31(7) and -31(8) violated the double jeopardy prohibition against multiple punishments for the same offense. Because of other errors in [...]
Real Estate – Church Property – Breakaway Episcopal Congregations
By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 15, 2010
Tags: Justice Lawrence L. Koontz Jr., Real Estate, Supreme Court of Virginia
Plaintiff Episcopal parishes in Northern Virginia, part of the Diocese of Virginia, that have voted to separate from the Episcopal Church, do not qualify for relief under Va. Code § 57-9(A), and may not petition the circuit court to affirm their vote, the Supreme Court of Virginia says in reversing the lower court decision and [...]
Human corpse needed to make plot a ‘cemetery,’ court says
By Alan Cooper
Published: April 23, 2010
Tags: Justice Lawrence L. Koontz Jr., Land Use, Supreme Court of Virginia News
When is a cemetery not a cemetery? When no human corpse is buried there, the Supreme Court of Virginia says. Kathryn Shilling saw sacred ground when she looked at a hilltop plot in Rockingham County where she buried her mother’s ashes in 1999. But her half-brother Brian Baker saw a prime piece of real estate [...]
Criminal – Spouse Murder – Multiple Personality Disorder
By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 22, 2010
Tags: Criminal, Justice Lawrence L. Koontz Jr., Supreme Court of Virginia
A woman convicted of the second-degree murder of her husband is not entitled to a new trial on her claim that evidence discovered after the guilt-determination phase of her original trial would show a new jury that she suffers from dissociative identity disorder, a mental disease she contends would support an insanity defense; the Supreme [...]
Zoning – Building Height – Uniformity Requirement
By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 22, 2010
Tags: Justice Lawrence L. Koontz Jr., Supreme Court of Virginia, Zoning
A developer loses his challenge to a Falls Church zoning ordinance that establishes different building height regulations on one-family dwellings in the same zoning district; the ordinance does not violate Va. Code § 15.2-2282, and the Supreme Court of Virginia affirms summary judgment for the city. The developer owns 12 lots in the city, all [...]
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