Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

Even though words alone are insufficient provocation to reduce murder to manslaughter, defendant cannot challenge her voluntary manslaughter conviction on this basis because she approved jury instructions that omitted this legal principle, says the Virginia Supreme Court. Defendant waived her ...

Tagged with: Chief Justice Donald W. Lemons Criminal Supreme Court of Virginia

The circuit court’s ruling that a prison inmate’s future suits would be reviewed and subject to summary dismissal before being served is reversed because the court did not complete the analysis required by Adkins v. CP/IPERS Arlington Hotel LLC, 293 ...

Tagged with: Criminal Justice Elizabeth B. Lacy Supreme Court of Virginia

Although the district court was imprecise in whether it was imposing an upward departure or a variance in sentencing a former postmaster for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, the appellate court found any error was harmless because the sentence was ...

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

Because a prior North Carolina conviction for robbery qualified as a “crime of violence” under the Sentencing Guidelines, applying a career offender enhancement to a bank robber’s base offense level was not error. Background Jarrett Terrell Edwards appeals his 192-month ...

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

The district court did not err in increasing the defendant’s base offense level because of two prior convictions. Background In 2016, Allen pleaded guilty to the unlawful possession of firearms by a convicted felon. The probation officer prepared a presentence ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Barbara Milano Keenan

The evidence showed the appellant intended to defraud the victim and actually did so by taking his $500 as part of a ruse to sell him a car, thus supporting the conviction for obtaining money by false pretense. Background In ...

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

A defendant who filed a motion to avoid a mandatory minimum sentence shortly before his sentencing hearing began was entitled to have the circuit court consider it on the merits. The court’s refusal to do so because the motion was ...

Tagged with: Criminal Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr. Supreme Court of Virginia

Although law enforcement interviewed the defendant for two hours in his mother’s living room about his possible involvement in child pornography, the officers were not required to give him Miranda warnings because he was not subjected to restraints of the ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Michael F. Urbanski U.S. District Court - Western District

The court rejected defendant’s objection to his sentence, finding prior Virginia convictions for possessing heroin with intent to distribute fell within the definition of crimes involving “controlled substances,” thus implicating the career-offender provision of the sentencing guidelines. Background Timothy A. ...

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

The court denied the defendant’s motion for a hearing at this stage and found, based upon a Bureau of Prisons psychiatric report, that defendant had a substantial probability of regaining competency if medicated another 120 days. Background Defendant was charged ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Raymond A. Jackson U.S. District Court - Eastern District