Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

At defendant’s trial for burglaries and thefts from three businesses, the trial court did not err in admitting texts and tweets from defendant’s personal cellphone identifying items stolen from the businesses and offered for sale, which, together with additional stolen ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Marla Graff Decker Virginia Court of Appeals

The Court of Appeals affirms defendant’s conviction for possession of a firearm as a convicted felon, based on circumstantial evidence, including testimony of the officer who stopped defendant for a traffic offense and overheard defendant tell his girlfriend on the ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Robert J. Humphreys Unpublished Opinion Virginia Court of Appeals

The Court of Appeals affirms defendant’s conviction for use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, based on circumstantial evidence, including the note defendant gave to his robbery victim stating he had a gun and that he did ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Marla Graff Decker Unpublished Opinion Virginia Court of Appeals

The Court of Appeals says a trial court did not abuse its discretion by denying defendant’s motion to withdraw his Alford pleas to robbery and firearm charges, as defendant expressly waived this right. In Griffin v. Commonwealth, 65 Va. App. ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Robert J. Humphreys Unpublished Opinion Virginia Court of Appeals

Although defendant claimed his contact with three women who asked him to leave their apartment after a prolonged period of alcohol consumption was “blow for blow,” the trial court could reject defendant’s account of the altercation in favor of testimony ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr. Unpublished Opinion Virginia Court of Appeals

The 4th Circuit affirms multiple counts of a former CIA employee’s convictions for unauthorized disclosure to reporter James Risen of a letter relating to a classified program to use a Russian scientist  to supply “realistic but ultimately flawed nuclear plans” ...

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

A defendant’s possession and display of a revolver while at the house of his closest associate in a methamphetamine-distribution conspiracy was sufficiently related to the conspiracy to allow the district court to enhance defendant’s sentence under USSG § 2D1.1(b)(1) for ...

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

Although a district court must consider a habeas petitioner’s claims raised for the first time in his objections to a magistrate judge’s proposed findings and recommendations, contrary to the district court’s view, the district court did not err in rejecting ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Henry F. Floyd

When ruling on the government’s proposal that defendant receive a sentence reduction under USSG § 5K1.1 for his substantial assistance after his arrest with 43 kilos of cocaine hidden in his tractor-trailer, the district court erred by considering factors not ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge William B. Traxler Jr.

A Big Stone Gap U.S. District Court grants this motion under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, vacates defendant’s sentence and orders resentencing under Johnson v. U.S., 135 S.Ct. 2551 (2015), for his conviction of possession of a firearm as a convicted ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge James P. Jones U.S. District Court - Western District