Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

The government didn’t violate due process by showing a kidnapping victim a photo array with the defendant’s image cropped from his music group’s promotional poster, which the victim had seen before. Background In the summer of 2012, two U.S. citizens ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Constitutional Criminal Evidence Judge Albert Diaz

Two Greek entities were vicariously liable for violations of international maritime-pollution laws by their cargo vessel’s crewmembers, as well as for the crewmembers attempts to conceal those violations. Background In 2015, the cargo vessel Ocean Hope – owned and operated ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Employment Judge Robert B. King Sentencing

The trial court should have denied defendant’s motion to suppress evidence found in a locked room in his house. Although officers entered the home without a warrant, they obtained one before entering the locked room. Background In March 2016, a Spotsylvania ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Criminal Judge Marla Graff Decker Search & Seizure Virginia Court of Appeals

Although no one saw actual spittle, testimony from three witnesses who saw and heard the defendant spit at two law enforcement officers was sufficient to support her convictions for assaulting the officers by spitting at them. Background King William County ...

Tagged with: Criminal Evidence Judge Mary B. Malveaux Virginia Court of Appeals

Despite a pretrial order barring testimony regarding the defendants’ prior robberies, a witness’s brief reference to a “previous” robbery did not explicitly link this robbery to either defendant. The trial court did not err in giving a curative instruction rather ...

Tagged with: Criminal Evidence Judge Mary B. Malveaux Virginia Court of Appeals

After intentionally running her car into her former boyfriend while he was riding his bike, the defendant was properly convicted of both improper driving and malicious wounding. Background On September 20, 2013, Appellant Kashawna Moore followed Edward Neal, her ex-boyfriend, ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Robert P. Frank Virginia Court of Appeals

A defendant facing charges for forcibly sodomizing a 10-year-old family member did not prove he was entitled to a forensic interviewer to testify as a rebuttal expert, after the Commonwealth relied in part on a forensic interview of the victim. ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Teresa M. Chafin Virginia Court of Appeals

A defendant who perpetrated a complicated insurance fraud scheme resulting in more than $100 million in losses was not denied his right to counsel after he repeatedly insisted on proceeding pro se but then requested counsel for his final sentencing ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Constitutional Criminal Insurance Judge Robert B. King Sentencing

The government didn’t violate due process by showing a kidnapping victim a photo array with the defendant’s image cropped from his music group’s promotional poster, which the victim had seen before. Background In the summer of 2012, two U.S. citizens ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Constitutional Criminal Evidence Judge Albert Diaz Sixth Amendment

When a citizen conversing voluntarily with police gave them the unlabeled pill bottle in his pocket, he consented to inspection of both the outside and inside. The trial court erred in suppressing the contents. Background At around 10:30 p.m. on ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Criminal Judge Wesley G. Russell Jr. Search & Seizure Virginia Court of Appeals