Virginia Lawyers Weekly VA Lawyers Weekly

Double jeopardy does not bar defendant’s two convictions of attempted malicious wounding where he shot at the same victim during “separate and discrete” parts of a gun battle. Gun battle Appellant and three others went to Bourne’s apartment, located over ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Glen A. Huff Virginia Court of Appeals

Appellant was not entitled to a self-defense instruction at his first-degree murder trial because there was no evidence of an overt act that presented an imminent danger to appellant when he shot the victim. Background Appellant Snipes and the victim, ...

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

Where appellant testified in his case-in-chief that he had sold drugs in the past but not on the day when police searched his home, he waived his earlier objection to testimony from a police investigator about a confident informant’s previous ...

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

There is insufficient evidence to support appellant’s claim that the partiality of the trial judge who revoked his suspended sentence could reasonably be questioned because the same judge presided over his murder trial that led to the revocation. Further, even ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Glen A. Huff Virginia Court of Appeals

Although a defendant challenged charges for allegedly smuggling contraband into the Roanoke City Jail, including that the facility fell outside the scope of the criminal statute, there was nothing inherently vague about the statute that would lead to arbitrary enforcement or ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Michael F. Urbanski U.S. District Court - Western District

Where defendants objected to the application of advisory sentencing guidelines for “ice” methamphetamine, a high purity drug, instead of guidelines for mixtures that are less pure, the government successfully provided evidence that the conspiracy centered on ice methamphetamine. Background In ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge James P. Jones U.S. District Court - Western District

Even though the commonwealth never introduced a gun into evidence, appellant’s conviction of being a felon in possession of a firearm, Code § 18.2-308.2(A), is affirmed. There was sufficient evidence to convict, based on the victim’s testimony that appellant drew ...

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

Appellant’s transfer of road maintenance funds from a segregated account to his own business account was not an embezzlement because the funds were paid to him but not entrusted to him. Further, appellant’s notice to a property owner to pay ...

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

Even though appellant’s indictment did not specifically reference a code section that criminalizes possessing a firearm while possessing drugs with intent to distribute and provides for a five-year minimum sentence, the indictment was “clear on its face” that appellant was ...

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

Where the general district court waived jail time on the commonwealth’s behalf for a defendant charged with possessing marijuana, the commonwealth cannot seek jail time in a de novo circuit court trial of the charge. Further the charge must be ...

Tagged with: Criminal Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge David Bernhard Virginia Circuit Courts