The VLW Blog

A bill that would have reinstated the office of appellate defender for Virginia went down to defeat in the Senate Courts Committee Monday. The 8-to-5 vote to “pass by” Senate Bill 738 closely followed party lines. Republicans generally were opposed to the measure while Democrats favored restoring the position. The appellate defender handled appeals of [...]

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The stolen goods amounted to one $2.59 can of Red Bull, but it is the defendant accused of the theft that makes the case remarkable. Loudoun County public defender Lorie E. O’Donnell is charged with shoplifting the energy drink from a Frederick County grocery store March 2. O’Donnell has been in charge of the regional [...]

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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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David P. Baugh, the prominent Richmond criminal defense attorney, will become the capital defender for the central Virginia office of the Indigent Defense Commission on March 1. Baugh will succeed John B. Boatwright III, who has been seriously ill for much of the last two years and transferred recently to commission’s central office as special [...]

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