Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

Testimony from multiple witnesses, together with other testimony, including the defendant’s own telephone calls, supported his conviction for possession of a firearm. Background The evidence established that Erica Hutchings heard gunshots after 7 a.m. on Oct. 29, 2017, and saw ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Jean Harrison Clements Virginia Court of Appeals

The trial court did not err in rejecting the defendant’s speedy trial act and evidentiary challenges to his conviction for sodomy, aggravated sexual battery and indecent liberties with a child. Other challenges were not raised in a timely fashion. Background ...

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

A defendant was properly subject to an enhanced sentence because his prior state conviction for distribution of crack cocaine qualified as a serious drug offense under the Armed Career Criminal Act, or ACCA, and a controlled substance offense under the ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Robert B. King

A defendant properly received a sentencing enhancement under the Armed Career Criminal Act, or ACCA, because his prior state convictions for common law robbery and accessory before the fact of armed robbery both qualify as violent felonies. Background In 2009, ...

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

The court concluded there was sufficient evidence to support the convictions for sex trafficking and related drug counts. However, as a result of a Fourth Circuit decision issued after trial and post-trial briefing, the court granted the defendant’s motion for ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Elizabeth K. Dillon U.S. District Court - Western District

Where defendant did not object when his trial date was moved beyond the statutory five-month speedy trial period, the delay was attributable to defendant and his convictions are affirmed. Background Young was arrested for robbery, held without bond and later ...

Tagged with: Criminal Justice Cleo E. Powell Supreme Court of Virginia

Guns and marijuana recovered from a vehicle did not need to be suppressed because the officer had probable cause to stop the driver after observing his erratic driving and did not unreasonably delay the stop. The admission of statements made ...

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

Where a defendant was informed that he could face deportation by pleading guilty to a charge of conspiracy to distribute cocaine but did not realize, and was not told, that pleading guilty to the charge subjected him to mandatory deportation, ...

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

Although defendants are not categorically barred from obtaining resentencing pursuant to Rule 36 over a clerical error, the defendant was not entitled to this relief because the clerical error in his pre-sentence report only affected one of his prior convictions ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge James A. Wynn Jr.

Any error relating to the prosecutor’s proffer of evidence at appellant’s probation revocation hearing was harmless. The proffered evidence, a newspaper article that quoted the victim’s description of appellant’s actions, was not the only evidence of the nature of the ...

Tagged with: Criminal Justice Cleo E. Powell Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn Justice Stephen R. McCullough Justice William C. Mims Supreme Court of Virginia