The VLW Blog

The Senate voted 23-17 today to drastically increase filing fees in general district and circuit courts to provide money for sheriffs and commonwealth’s attorneys.
Proponents of Senate Bill 329, patroned by Sen. Richard H. Stuart, R-Westmoreland, contend there is no other to generate about $50 million and save the jobs of about 1,400 deputy sheriffs.
Critics countered [...]

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General District Judge Norman deVere “Dev” Morrison retired yesterday after 24 years on the bench.
Before his judicial appointment in 1985, Judge Morrison served as the Berryville town attorney and as a substitute judge. During his career, he has sat in every court in the 26th Judicial Circuit, but mainly ruled over cases in Clarke and [...]

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Amy Tisinger was sworn in yesterday as the first female judge on the general district bench in Shenandoah County.
She replaces Judge Norman Morrison, who is retiring, reports the Northern Virginia Daily.
For the past 10 years, Tisinger has been a prosecutor with the commonwealth’s attorney’s office, and spent four years working for William B. Allen III [...]

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The News Leader spoke with retired Judge A. Lee McGratty, who defends the methods he used to move cases along when he was on the bench.
McGratty, who presided in both the Staunton and Augusta County general district courts, said his blunt demeanor in the courtroom was necessary. Due to an overwhelming caseload - [...]

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Electing three new judges in Norfolk in the next session of the General Assembly apparently won’t be a repeat of the battle to fill three circuit court vacancies there that occurred this year.
Sources say the delegation has agreed on:
-         Mary Jane Hall, who is of counsel in the Norfolk office of Kaufman & Canoles, to [...]

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Virginian-Pilot columnist Kerry Dougherty got an interesting piece out of her trip to general district court for the trial of a photographic exhibitionist. Thanks and a tip of the hat to Steve Minor for spotting this.

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A Suffolk general district judge has delayed the verdict in an assault case after getting assurances from the defense attorney, a member of the General Assembly, that lower court judges can do so, The Virginian-Pilot reports.
Judge James A. Moore delayed judgment for a year in a case brought by a church secretary against a [...]

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Henrico General District Judge Archer L. Yeatts III today rejected an attempt to challenge Virginia’s new scheme of “abusive driver” fees, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Yeatts ruled that a general district court didn’t have the jurisdiction to stop the fees, which took effect July 1 and establish harsher financial penalty for certain traffic offenses. [...]

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