The VLW Blog

A defendant’s firearm conviction is reversed because testimony of a Quizno’s employee showed only that he had “something” under his shirt.  Defendant Donte Devan Mitchell walked into the restaurant and asked for a job application. He left when he was told the store was out of application forms. A short time later, he walked back [...]

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The entire Court of Appeals of Virginia has announced it will take another look at the issue of defective petitions for appeal. A three-judge court panel declared earlier this month that vague references to the record in assignments of error in petitions would be fatal – the appeals would be dismissed without an opportunity to [...]

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It’s official: the Court of Appeals will dismiss your petition for appeal if you fail to follow the rules for assignments of error. As we reported in March, the court had asked lawyers to address whether a 2011 Supreme Court order signaled the need for dismissal when assignments of error fell short of the required [...]

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A trial court turned the tables on a mother who claimed a father violated a protective order, and jailed the mother for lying to the court. The father foiled the mother’s attempt to have him punished by secretly videotaping his pickup of their child for visitation. The mother landed in jail for contempt after an [...]

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Someone didn’t get the memo. The commonwealth forfeited its right to appeal a suppression order when it styled its appellate claims as “Questions Presented” instead of “Assignments of Error.” The appellant had hit the preliminary marks: Timely notice of appeal? Check. Transcript of suppression hearing filed? Check. Petition timely filed? Check. But the original petition [...]

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Calling the exoneration of Thomas Haynesworth a “wake up call” for many in Virginia, state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli sounded a note of caution Tuesday about prosecutors who fail to balance mercy with the desire to punish. He also called for a rewrite of the state’s actual innocence statute. Haynesworth – who otherwise had no [...]

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A couple’s arbitrated custody decision under their “Parenting Agreement” did not let a father immediately adjust support when their daughter moved in with him. The divorcing parties signed a “Parenting Agreement” that said they would equally share custody of their two children, and would resolve outstanding issues through arbitration. Under the terms of the resulting [...]

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Two circuit judges and two lawyers in private practice have won the recommendation of the Virginia Bar Association as the General Assembly considers a replacement for Virginia Court of Appeals Judge James Haley Jr. In a Feb. 15 letter to chairmen of the Assembly’s Courts committees, the VBA supports – in alphabetical order: Tazewell County [...]

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A mother could attach a father’s federal retirement account to collect a child support arrearage, the Virginia Court of Appeals said today. It did not matter that the mother had waived any personal interest in the retirement account in a premarital agreement, the appellate panel said. In Nkopchieu v. Minlend, the panel reversed an Alexandria [...]

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In its first published opinion released in a month, the Virginia Court of Appeals today rejected a double jeopardy claim and upheld larceny convictions for Ronald Arthur Tharrington. Convicted in the Chesapeake Circuit Court, Tharrington argued the trial court should have dismissed indictments that charged both grand larceny under Va. Code § 18.2-95 and larceny [...]

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