A university did not restrict or chill students’ speech by seeking their response to complaints that they had harassed others. The students, who’d sought and obtained university approval for a campus “Free Speech Event,” met with an official to discuss ...

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

After U.S. Supreme Court precedent invalidated one of the defendant’s three predicate convictions mandating a sentence enhancement under the Armed Career Criminal Act, his sentence could not be sustained by a “substitute” conviction that appeared on his pre-sentence report but ...

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

In a § 1983 action by a former jail inmate, default judgment was granted against a jail employee who failed to appear despite being properly served. The court found that the employee sexually assaulted and raped the inmate and, after ...

Tagged with: Civil Rights Constitutional Eighth Amendment Judge Norman K. Moon U.S. District Court - Western District

A district court properly dismissed constitutional challenges to Virginia’s civil interdiction process, which can lead to criminal penalties for possession, consumption, or purchase of alcoholic beverages by individuals subject to a civil interdiction order. Background Virginia regulates the consumption, purchase, ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Constitutional Due Process Eighth Amendment Equal Protection Fourteenth Amendment Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III

A circuit court had jurisdiction to decide a merger dispute between two churches. Resolution centered on the parties’ merger agreement, not their religious doctrines or other ecclesiastical questions. Background After falling behind on its mortgage payments, Pure Presbyterian Church of ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Contract Declaratory Judgment First Amendment Justice Stephen R. McCullough Real Property Supreme Court of Virginia

An Amazon warehouse employee who beat up a coworker based on the victim’s sexual orientation couldn’t be convicted of a federal hate crime, though the jury delivered a guilty verdict. The act didn’t affect interstate commerce and, thus, was outside ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Criminal Judge John A. Gibney Jr. U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Two publications purporting to reveal widespread voter fraud have given rise to a viable lawsuit. The published materials (called Alien Invasion I and II) allegedly reported falsely that specific individuals, identified by name and other personal information, had registered and/or voted illegally in ...

Tagged with: Civil Rights Constitutional Defamation Elections Judge Liam O'Grady Personal Injury Tort U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Evidence was sufficient to conclude that a Spanish-speaking defendant waived his Miranda rights prior to a police interview. He was given the written warning in Spanish, asked by an interpreter if he understood it, and read it back to officers. Background Detective ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Evidence Fifth Amendment Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn Supreme Court of Virginia

At a defendant’s probation revocation hearing, the circuit court properly admitted information about the defendant’s most recent convictions as reported in a news article read by the prosecutor. The article was written to inform the public, not in anticipation of ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Evidence Judge Richard Y. AtLee Jr. Sentencing Virginia Court of Appeals

When the search of a driver who’d appeared nervous and fidgety produced a digital scale with apparent cocaine residue on it, the circumstances supported probable cause for officers to search his vehicle, where they found drugs and a handgun. Background ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Criminal Justice Elizabeth A. McClanahan Search & Seizure Supreme Court of Virginia