Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

Where the evidence shows that it was appellant’s idea to become a confidential informant and participate in a controlled drug buy with a high-level distributor, the trial court correctly refused to instruct the jury on entrapment at appellant’s trial for ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Wesley G. Russell Jr. Virginia Court of Appeals

There was no error in the wiretaps used to identify defendant’s participation in a drug distribution ring. Moreover, the evidence was sufficient to support the convictions and there was no error in calculating the amount of heroin for sentencing purposes. ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Per Curiam Opinion

After officers observed a still-smoldering marijuana cigarette lying in an open trash can in the kitchen, a fair probability existed that further evidence of the defendant’s crime would be uncovered elsewhere in the house, thus supporting a warrant to search ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Paul V. Niemeyer

In a fight among three brothers, in which two were stabbed and appellant was the only one armed with a knife, the trial court’s conviction of two counts of unlawful wounding is affirmed. Further, the trial court correctly rejected appellant’s ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Clifford L. Athey Jr. Virginia Court of Appeals

The trial court erred by concluding that although the police lawfully acquired appellant’s portable hard drive, known to contain child pornography images, keeping the hard drive became an unreasonable seizure because the police waited more than a month before getting ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge W. Chapman Goodwin Virginia Court of Appeals

Where appellant was convicted of attempting to obtain a firearm while subject to a protective order, he had no right to confront and cross-examine the deputy who completed the certificate of service reflecting that appellant was personally served with an ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Clifford L. Athey Jr. Virginia Court of Appeals

Although the defendant’s legal objection to the criminal history calculation was addressed by the sentencing judge, it was error to not address the defendant’s equitable argument for a variance from the sentence for illegal reentry. Background Apolonio Torres-Reyes pleaded guilty ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Julius N. Richardson

The defendant’s argument that one use of a firearm in the simultaneous commission of two predicate drug-trafficking offenses will not support separate § 924(c) convictions and sentences is foreclosed by Fourth Circuit precedent. And he was not entitled to relief ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Pamela A. Harris

A motion to suppress a “substantial” quantity of illegal drugs discovered after the defendant was stopped at a traffic checkpoint was correctly denied because the stop was for a proper purpose and the officers acted reasonably. Background In July 2014, ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III

Drug evidence in a mint container found in the vehicle appellant was driving will be suppressed. The police lacked probable cause to search the container and no exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement applied. Overview Hudgens, a police officer, ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Clifford L. Athey Jr. Virginia Court of Appeals