Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

Although a man whose car was stolen at gunpoint by two men in “black jackets, t-shirts and jeans” initially identified another man, and not defendant, in a photographic lineup shortly after the carjacking, the misidentification was attributable to the fact ...

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

A defendant, charged with the causing the death of his girlfriend’s three-year-old son while she was at work, cannot overturn his convictions with a claim that he left the child in his roommate’s care while he went out; the trial ...

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

A defendant who twice previously was convicted of taking indecent liberties with children committed “sexual exploitation of children” under 18 U.S.C. § 2251(e) and the prior convictions could be used to enhance his current sentence for manufacturing child pornography; the ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Stephanie Dawn Thacker

A Virginia defendant cannot overturn his 2011 death sentence based on a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court declaring unconstitutio nal Florida’s capital-sentencing scheme, in which a jury renders an “advisory sentence” but a judge must independently weigh the aggravating and mitigating ...

Tagged with: Criminal Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Randy I. Bellows Virginia Circuit Courts

A sentencing court did not err in not applying the “single larceny doctrine” to defendant’s breaking into and burglary of a home and theft of an automobile, which led to convictions for statutory burglary, grand larceny and grand larceny of ...

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

Although defendant and his codefendant claimed their gunshot wounds occurred when they were caught in cross-fire at a party in Reidsville, N.C., forensic evidence showed their wounds were consistent with the unusual ammunition used that night by a Pittsylvania County ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Mary B. Malveaux Virginia Court of Appeals

Although a juror initially acknowledged during voir dire that he was “probably leaning more towards guilty” in considering the murder charge against defendant, based on what the juror already had learned about the case, the trial court determined through further ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge William G. Petty Virginia Court of Appeals

Although defendant contends he was forced to waive a psychotherapist-patient privilege as part of a program of sex-offender treatment that was a condition of his supervised probation, the district court was entitled to rely on his statements to a therapist ...

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

The 4th Circuit vacates a district court decision holding that Virginia common law robbery qualifies as a violent felony under the ACCA’s force clause; defendant still may be subject to an armed career criminal designation if his rape conviction under ...

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

When sentencing defendant on his guilty plea to failure to register as a sex offender as required by 18 U.S.C. § 2250(a), the district court did not err in imposing as a special condition of supervised release that defendant undergo ...

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