Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

A driver who maintained that he believed he only hit a deer, but who actually hit and killed a person, had his conviction of felony hit and run affirmed. Background At 7:00 a.m. on Aug. 4, 2016, Trooper Dustin Eggleston ...

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

Where a defendant acknowledged touching his co-worker’s shoulders during a dispute, and the co-worker and other witnesses testified that the contact was intended to prevent the co-worker from leaving the room, the defendant’s self-serving testimony that the contact was minimal ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Henry E. Hudson U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Although evidence obtained during a military search of the defendant’s cellphone was inadmissible because it violated the Military Rules of Evidence, the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule and “fruit of the poisonous tree” doctrine nonetheless allowed the government to ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Stephanie Dawn Thacker

A defendant who sent gift cards to an undercover agent he believed was a member of ISIS was guilty of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization where his collection of Nazi paraphernalia suggested a predisposition to ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge G. Steven Agee

The commonwealth charged defendant with falsely making or embossing a fraudulent credit card. At trial, however, it demonstrated only the defendant tried to use a fraudulent card. The conviction was reversed because the commonwealth failed to prove the crime charged ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Richard Y. AtLee Jr. Virginia Court of Appeals

Where defendant petitioned for a writ of actual innocence based on nonbiological evidence, the Court of Appeals abused its discretion by dismissing the petition without ordering an evidentiary hearing. The appeals court concluded defendant did not prove the truth of ...

Tagged with: Criminal Justice William C. Mims Supreme Court of Virginia

A defendant is not entitled to relief from mandatory three-year minimum sentences for his  convictions of cocaine distribution offenses because the evidence showed he possessed a firearm during the time that controlled buys were made at his home. Overview Under ...

Tagged with: Criminal Published Order Supreme Court of Virginia

Defendant was not entitled to a continuance under a statute that provides the court “shall” grant a reasonable continuance when a defendant represented by a court-appointed attorney becomes financially able to retain private counsel. The statute does not confer a ...

Tagged with: Criminal Justice William C. Mims Supreme Court of Virginia

Where a defendant was denied the effective assistance of counsel because his counsel failed to allege that his money laundering convictions presented a merger problem on appeal, the appropriate remedy was to vacate the defendant’s convictions for money laundering and ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Robert E. Payne U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Evidence from defendant’s cellphone should have been suppressed at trial because the police did not have a reasonable justification for their delay in obtaining a search warrant, but hearsay testimony was properly admitted because the defendant actively caused the declarant ...

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