A witness who was held in contempt after admitting to using marijuana before testifying at a felony assault trial saw the circuit court partially grant her motion to vacate her conviction. Her 10-day jail sentence, however, was modified to time ...

Tagged with: Criminal Law Judge James P. Fisher Loudoun County Circuit Court Virginia Circuit Courts

Exigent circumstances supported a warrantless request to a cellphone provider for a “ping” of the defendant’s cellphone, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court has held in a matter of first impression. Prosecutors had argued the man’s violent criminal history and armed ...

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

A woman who was pulled over for improper window tinting, speeding and littering has succeeded in her bid to suppress drug evidence found by the police. The officers had an objectively reasonable basis to make the traffic stop, but it ...

Tagged with: 25th Circuit Court Criminal Law Judge Paul A. Dryer Virginia Circuit Courts

A favorable ruling from a Fairfax County judge earlier this year encouraged Virginia criminal defense attorneys to challenge the common practice of trying misdemeanor cases without a prosecutor taking part. A similar bid to block a no-prosecutor trial was rebuffed ...

Tagged with: Criminal Law No-prosecutor trial

Legislative amendments from 2020 that prohibit a traffic stop for an expired registration or a broken taillight are retroactive, a Roanoke County circuit judge has ruled in a case of first impression. As a result, a woman facing drug charges ...

Tagged with: Criminal Law Judge Charles N. Dorsey Roanoke County Circuit Court Traffic stop

A Floyd County circuit judge has refused to allow the state to seize a couple’s home alleged to have been the site of a major marijuana distribution operation. The judge cited the fact that only one spouse had been convicted ...

Tagged with: Criminal Law Drug seizure Floyd County Circuit Court Judge K. Mike Fleenor Jr. marijuana

Acknowledging a lapse in pretrial disclosures, federal prosecutors in the Western District of Virginia agreed to dismissal of all charges against a woman convicted by a jury of providing contraband to her jailed boyfriend. The move followed a dispute over ...

Tagged with: Brady violation Criminal Law U.S. District Court - Western District

An officer had probable cause to arrest defendant for driving under the influence based on signs that defendant’s alcohol consumption observably affected his “his manner, disposition, speech, muscular movement [and] general appearance or behavior.” Further, despite defendant’s arguments to the ...

Tagged with: Criminal Law Judge James P. Fisher Loudoun County Circuit Court Virginia Circuit Courts

Where counsel for a defendant accused of money laundering never formed an attorney-client relationship with another defendant, never obtained any privileged information from that defendant nor was ever consulted or communicated with his lawyer, there was no conflict of interest ...

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

The judges of the Virginia Court of Appeals went in three different directions in analyzing when a document – a signed proof of service – can take the place of live testimony to prove violation of a criminal statute. At ...

Tagged with: Criminal Law Judge Clifford L. Athey Jr. Judge David W. Lannetti Judge Glen A. Huff Judge Robert J. Humphreys Virginia Court of Appeals