Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

Although the government continued to provide recordings of interviews and 850 pages of discovery from the city after the government had offered assurances that it had produced all relevant documents required under the court’s discovery order, an Alexandria U.S. District ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge James C. Cacheris U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A defendant who changed his son’s name and obtained a variety of identification documents and then applied for a passport in that name, can be convicted of conspiracy to commit identification document fraud and aggravated identity theft, says the 4th ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III

The 4th Circuit vacates a defendant’s sentence on a firearm charge because, when calculating the advisory sentencing range under the guidelines, the district court erred by counting defendant’s conviction for felony escape under Georgia law as a crime of violence ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Clyde H. Hamilton

A trooper did not violate the Fourth Amendment when, after issuing a driver a warning about his window tint and questioning the driver and his passenger on matters unrelated to the traffic stop, the trooper briefly detained defendant and called ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Paul V. Niemeyer Search & Seizure

Based on an aerial photograph and detailed description of the parking lot with through access, open to the public, the area where defendant was operating his motor vehicle was a “highway” under Virginia law, and defendant can be convicted of ...

Tagged with: Judge Thomas D. Horne Loudoun County Circuit Court Traffic Offenses Virginia Circuit Courts

A man who loudly complained about being summoned to jury service, waved his arms around, and refused to comply with court officials’ directive to follow the rules and put his request to be excused in writing, nevertheless cannot be convicted ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Sam W. Coleman III Virginia Court of Appeals

Although a defendant asked the investigator who was translating for him if he should “talk to an attorney or what?” this was not an unequivocal request for counsel, and the Court of Appeals upholds admission of defendant’s statement and his ...

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

The 4th Circuit vacates a district court order granting habeas relief to a petitioner challenging his civil commitment as a “sexually dangerous” person under the Adam Walsh Child Protection & Safety Act, as petitioner did not exhaust his remedies and ...

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

Police investigators who followed defendant after observing him in a suspected drug transaction in an area known for illegal drug activity and who searched defendant’s car with his consent could be subjected to a pat-down after he repeatedly put his ...

Tagged with: Judge Walter S. Felton Jr. Search & Seizure Virginia Court of Appeals

There was sufficient evidence to convict defendant of petit larceny where a deputy, responding to a store clerk’s 911 call, observed defendant in the aisle of a shoe store remove a tan boot from under his windbreaker; the Court of ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Robert P. Frank Virginia Court of Appeals