The VLW Blog

Virginia Beach public defender Annette Miller helps those with mental health issues. Miller has worked in the public defender’s office since 1995. In the past five years, she tells The Virginian-Pilot, she has likely handled more than 200 criminal cases involving seriously mentally ill defendants. The city of Virginia Beach recognized her in 2000 with [...]

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A Lynchburg nurse’s aide faces 18 counts of aggravated identity theft in a federal indictment handed down yesterday. Karen Priscilla Jones, 48, is accused of using personal information from residents at nursing homes where she worked to obtain more than $9,000 worth of goods and services, according to the indictment. In addition to identity theft [...]

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A Norfolk grand jury has indicted Kentucky lawyer Erick A. Bowman on charges of stealing from the firm of Kalfus & Nachman where he worked until last year. The Virginian-Pilot reports Bowman has been involved in a legal dispute with the Kalfus firm since he left in May 2008. Posted by Peter Vieth

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A driver’s answer to an officer’s “incidental” question in a convenience store parking lot can’t come into evidence, a Roanoke City Circuit Court says. In Commonwealth v. Fuller, a uniformed, shield-wielding officer pulled his patrol car up beside Lloyd Jasper Fuller and saw he was not wearing a seat belt. “Fuller’s face registered considerable surprise, [...]

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A federal jury in Harrisonburg returned a not guilty verdict for an Ohio license clerk accused of being part of a fraudulent ID ring for illegal immigrants.  Seven other defendants charged in the scheme pleaded guilty, but Nekeia Mack-Fuller claimed she was innocent and refused a plea deal. According to the Daily News-Record, Mack-Fuller talked [...]

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The Supreme Court of Virginia could decide to give podiatrists some respect in the arena of medical evidence. Podiatrists, like chiropractors, are not medical doctors, although they are trained and licensed to treat specific conditions.  Unlike chiropractors, however, podiatrists do not have a special statute in the Virginia Code allowing them to testify about what [...]

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A Richmond Circuit Court judge has refused to allow an appeal of a pretrial ruling that barred “class action” status for a lawsuit filed by a college professor who says the state lottery’s scratcher games were unfair. Virginia law ordinarily does not allow class actions, but Scott Hoover sought to represent other scratcher players through [...]

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Prosecutors are disappointed to find former friends Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas in the majority yesterday with a case that limits when police can search the car of someone arrested at a traffic stop. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Arizona v. Gant that  police need a warrant to search the vehicle of someone they [...]

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A California jury returned a $36 million verdict against a Roanoke company accused of misusing trade secrets related to medical robotics. Luna Innovations was ordered to pay $26 million in lost profits, $10.2 million for unjust enrichment and $95,815 in damages, reports the The Roanoke Times. The jury found that Luna not only breached a [...]

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The Supreme Court of Virginia has agreed to hear Virginia Beach attorney Kenneth L. Singleton’s appeal of his contempt of court citation. Singleton’s sin? He didn’t show up for court and told his client not to come to court either after a Norfolk prosecutor had agreed to continue his case. Then Circuit Judge Charles D. [...]

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