Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

Members of three Special Operations Team squads who stormed a family’s home around 10 p.m. with a search warrant based on a Walmart photo employee having seen the husband’s nude photos, do not have qualified immunity for their no-knock entry ...

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

In this drug and gun case, the 4th Circuit vacates one of defendant’s firearms conviction because he has made a “plausible showing” that requires the district court to conduct an in camera review, for a possible Brady nondisclosure violation, of ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Diana Gribbon Motz

The 4th Circuit upholds a sentencing court’s analysis of a Maryland drug offense to trigger a sentencing enhancement under the Armed Career Criminal Act. Defendant pled guilty to a weapons charge. The district court sentenced defendant to 180 months, a ...

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

A Norfolk Circuit Court says a habeas petitioner who asserts claims including ineffective assistance of counsel and conflict of interest, is not entitled to discovery related to the federal indictment and conviction of Norfolk police investigator Robert G. Ford. Rule ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Norman A. Thomas Norfolk Circuit Court Virginia Circuit Courts

A Norfolk Circuit Court denies a habeas petitioner’s motion to file under seal an unredacted version of an affidavit filed by one of petitioner’s attorneys, based on the litigant’s claim that “witnesses who provided the information have expressed concerns that ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Norman A. Thomas Norfolk Circuit Court Virginia Circuit Courts

A Norfolk Circuit Court says a habeas petitioner who asserts claims including juror misconduct and ineffective assistance of counsel, is not entitled to discovery related to the federal indictment and conviction of Norfolk police investigator Robert G. Ford; however, the ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Norman A. Thomas Norfolk Circuit Court Virginia Circuit Courts

A juvenile defendant had no reasonable expectation of privacy that would preclude prosecutors’ use of a videotape of her during questioning at the police station, and a Norfolk Circuit Court says the fact that the defendant was under stress at ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Norman A. Thomas Norfolk Circuit Court Virginia Circuit Courts

A defendant cannot overturn his concealed weapon conviction by arguing the weapon found near his back passenger seat after he exited a vehicle was not covered by a red shirt when he got out of the vehicle; the Court of ...

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

The Court of Appeals cannot review defendant’s claim that a continuance of his trial for robbery and aggravated malicious wounding should have counted toward the speedy trial calculation under Va. Code § 19.2-243 because defendant did not file a transcript ...

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

Although defendant argues he was not tried on a charge of malicious wounding within five months of his preliminary hearing, as required by Va. Code § 19.2-243, the Court of Appeals finds no speedy trial violation because defendant did not ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge James W. Haley Jr. Virginia Court of Appeals