Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

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

Even though the court has suppressed a victim’s identification of defendant at the crime scene, the victim’s subsequent in-court identification had an independent basis and is admissible. Further, there was probable cause to arrest defendant even without the show-up identification. ...

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

After a three-judge panel found the trial court erred in refusing to give the jury an instruction on self-defense, the court granted the commonwealth’s petition for rehearing en banc. A majority of the en banc panel then voted to reverse ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Penney S. Azacarte Virginia Court of Appeals

After sniffing around doors and windows, officers concluded the strong odor of marijuana was coming from the defendant’s trailer. Though they obtained a warrant, the police had unlawfully entered the defendant’s property, leading to the overturning of his conviction. However, ...

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

Prior convictions involving the defendant’s exposing himself to the significantly younger minor child of a female acquaintance while using a vehicle to facilitate the offense was admissible as proof of his propensity to commit the crime charged. Background On July ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Mary Grace O'Brien Virginia Court of Appeals