Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

Body camera footage showed officers had consent to enter the man’s residence and he was not in custody when questioned; therefore, the dismissal of a motion to suppress is upheld. Background After Ismael Azua-Rinconada was indicted for illegally entering the ...

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

Where defendant was convicted of aiding another person to unlawfully obtain documents from the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, the jury verdict is set aside because the crime has an implied mens rea element that was not reflected in the ...

Tagged with: Criminal Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge David A. Oblon Virginia Circuit Courts

Where a private prison investigator failed to give Miranda warnings to a prisoner before questioning him about possession of contraband, and the trial judge granted a motion to suppress, that judgment is affirmed. Background Brandon Briggs was incarcerated at the ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Wesley G. Russell Jr. Virginia Court of Appeals

The defendant’s multiple claims attempting to upset his conspiracy and firearms conviction, including ineffective assistance of counsel and statutory arguments, were rejected as contrary to law. Background On May 8, 2017, a federal grand jury named petitioner Jerrod Pemberton and ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Robert G. Doumar U.S. District Court - Eastern District

The court rejected a defendant’s argument that his conviction for aiding and abetting attempted murder does not qualify as a “crime of violence” under the §924(c)(3)(A) “force clause,” finding that just because an aspect of his conviction was attempted murder ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Leonie Brinkema U.S. District Court - Eastern District

In reversing a conviction for conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine, the court found the government failed to prove that the conspiracies described in the 2006 and 2016 indictments, which involved the same conduct in the same geographic areas, were ...

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

The appellate court reversed and remanded the dismissal of a habeas petition, finding that new evidence proffered in 2013 called into question the culpability of a defendant convicted of murder in 1976. Taking the record as a whole, the court ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Roger L. Gregory

A defendant’s sentence for a single firearm charge and distribution of drugs was vacated and the case remanded, after a finding that the government breached the plea agreement by not advocating for the 10-16 months’ imprisonment agreed to by the ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Pamela A. Harris

A defendant who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery and  brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a “crime of violence” (the Hobbs Act conspiracy) had his sentence vacated after a sharply divided en banc court ...

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

A majority of the court reversed a sexual battery conviction, finding the defendant’s conduct in grabbing and twisting the victim’s breasts was insufficient to constitute sexual battery because he did not use “force” in the nonconsensual touching. Background In April ...

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