Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

Where police entered a motel room without a search warrant because they believed an occupant had overdosed on drugs, the trial court correctly suppressed evidence found in the room after determining the emergency aid exception did not justify the warrantless ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Randolph A. Beales Virginia Court of Appeals

Where the district court relied on now-inapplicable guidance in denying a detainee’s first motion for compassionate release, and then appeared to rely on that first denial in denying his petition a second time, despite the fact that he presented supplementary ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Roger L. Gregory

Where a bank robber agreed to a sentence of 384 months as part of a plea deal, and thus avoided a potential sentence of 1054 months, the district court did not err in considering that plea deal when it denied ...

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

Where a motion based on fraud or misrepresentation under Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b)(3) must be filed “no more than a year after the entry of the judgment or order or the date of the proceeding,” the deadline isn’t subject ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge James A. Wynn Jr.

Where the totality of the circumstances demonstrated that the defendant consented to a search of his bag, including by maintaining a friendly and casual tone with the officer and lifting his bag from the floorboard, unzipping it and holding it ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge David J. Novak U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Where a man charged with illegal reentry in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act argued the court should review the constitutionality of the statute under heightened scrutiny, but he failed to show the statute was motivated by a discriminatory ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr. U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Where the court could not credit the testimony of a Virginia state trooper that he searched a vehicle after seeing vacuum-sealer packaging material when he initially pulled the truck over, and the remaining reasons why the trooper searched the vehicle ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Thomas T. Cullen U.S. District Court - Western District

Statements defendant made after asserting his right to an attorney must be suppressed “with the exception of an unprompted comment … [defendant] made when one of the detectives entered the interview room and before the detective began speaking.” Background Defendant ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge David W. Lannetti Norfolk City Circuit Court Virginia Circuit Courts

Where appellant was convicted for possession of a firearm by a violent convicted felon, the trial court properly denied his motion to suppress. Traffic stop Kelly, appellant’s brother, drove his car into a gas station. Griffin was his passenger. Appellant ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Frank K. Friedman Virginia Court of Appeals

Even though appellant, in responding to a police request for a voluntary polygraph exam, said, “Can I speak to a lawyer about that?,” this was “a question ‘about’ counsel, rather than a request for counsel.” As a result, the trial ...

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