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

A warrant to search Paul Manafort’s Alexandria condo and to seize various electronic devices and media related to his bank and tax fraud offenses was constitutional on its face and constitutionally executed. Background At issue in this multi-count bank and ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Criminal Judge T.S. Ellis III Search & Seizure U.S. District Court - Eastern District

An involuntarily committed man who suffered from bipolar personality disorder was unreasonably denied necessary therapy, unlawfully restrained due to a nurse’s false report that he’d attacked her, and subjected to multiple severe assaults by another patient who acted at the ...

Tagged with: Civil Rights Constitutional Judge Henry Coke Morgan Jr. U.S. District Court - Eastern District

The district court erred in finding that three police officers, fired in retaliation for their joint action, represented a single claim for municipal insurance purposes. Thus, the per-claim policy limit applied to each officer individually, rather than the trio as ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Constitutional Employment Employment Discrimination Insurance Judge James A. Wynn Jr.

A defendant who murdered two victims within three years was subject to conviction and sentencing for both crimes under the statutory provision addressing such successive murders. Although the separate indictments merely changed the order in which victims were named, the ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Criminal Justice D. Arthur Kelsey Sentencing Supreme Court of Virginia

A former CIA officer convicted of four counts of selling state secrets to China won judgment of acquittal on two of those counts. Although the defendant lives in Virginia, there was no evidence he was in the state when he ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Criminal Judge T.S. Ellis III U.S. District Court - Eastern District

While officers had the defendant’s explicit consent to search specific rooms in his house and implied consent to take a path leading to those rooms, his firearm was seen only after an officer deviated from that path. Thus, it exceeded ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Criminal Judge David W. Lannetti Norfolk Circuit Court Search & Seizure Virginia Circuit Courts

A defendant’s constitutional right against double jeopardy was not violated by her convictions for both felony murder and felony hit-and-run. Background One morning in September 2014, a woman later identified as Defendant Sarah Flanders drove a red Dodge Durango onto ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Criminal Fifth Amendment Judge Rudolph Bumgardner III Virginia Court of Appeals

A regional jail authority is preliminarily enjoined from confiscating publications mailed to inmates by the Human Rights Defense Center. The policy banning delivery of such publications is not rationally related to any legitimate purpose identified by the defendants. Background Plaintiff ...

Tagged with: Civil Rights Constitutional First Amendment Judge James P. Jones Prisons & Jails U.S. District Court - Western District