Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly
The Court of Appeals rejects defendant’s claim that the commonwealth violated his due process rights by dishonoring a plea agreement and eliciting testimony at his sentencing hearing on charges that had been nolle prosequied by the commonwealth; defendant’s sentence on three counts of cocaine distribution is affirmed.
There is no evidence the commonwealth agreed not to elicit testimony regarding defendant’s drug associations at sentencing. In fact, we have no record of the agreement at all. Defendant has not presented us with a record upon which we can determine the commonwealth was under an obligation, by virtue of an agreement with defendant, to limit its evidence at sentencing. Aside from any putative agreement, the only real limitation on evidence at a sentencing hearing is that the information bear some indicia of reliability.
The trial court did not err in admitting testimony regarding defendant’s drug “associations,” as that evidence is permissible under Va. Code § 19.2-299(c).
Sentence affirmed.
Sizer v. Commonwealth (Alston, J.) No. 1465-09-2, Aug. 17, 2010; Caroline County Cir.Ct. (Peatross) Robert E. Walker Jr. For appellant; Joshua M. Didlake, AAG, for appellee. VLW 010-7-328(UP), 8 pp.
