Appellant’s argument that she used lawful force to expel a police officer from her premises is not well taken. She did not ask the officer to leave before she attempted to force him from her doorway. The Court of Appeals ...

Tagged with: Criminal Justice Stephen R. McCullough Supreme Court of Virginia

Where the trial court ruled that a deputy illegally searched a house and its curtilage but denied appellant’s motion to suppress because deputies relied on a warrant to seize evidence under the exclusionary rule’s good-faith exception, we affirm the result ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Robert J. Humphreys Virginia Court of Appeals

Where appellant was convicted of possession with intent to distribute cocaine, there was sufficient circumstantial evidence that he possessed the cocaine. Further, intent to distribute was established by an expert’s testimony that the way the cocaine was packaged and the ...

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

Where a detainee sentenced to death alleged he received ineffective assistance of counsel regarding his decision to plead guilty and the process of sentencing explaining, but his arguments were procedurally defaulted or without merit, his claims were rejected. Background In ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge G. Steven Agee

Where an affidavit supporting a search warrant included information that a woman contacted other parties through Facebook and text messages as part of a bribery scheme, that provided probable cause for a warrant allowing the search of her electronic devices. ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Henry E. Hudson U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Although the government was concerned that defendants charged with fraud in connection with the receipt of COVID unemployment benefits would seek to show that stimulus payments were made “to virtually everyone,” it remained the government’s burden to prove the defendants’ ...

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

Where appellant did not argue in the trial court that a statute barred the admission of certain testimony during the sentencing phase of his trial, his appeal, based on his statutory argument, is procedurally defaulted under Rule 5:25. At sentencing ...

Tagged with: Criminal Supreme Court of Virginia

Where a judge had a mistrial declared on his behalf after he was physically unable to continue presiding over a criminal trial, defendant’s objection to the mistrial, based on the fact his witnesses were present and he was ready to ...

Tagged with: Criminal Supreme Court of Virginia

There was sufficient evidence that appellant’s corporal punishment of his child “exceeded the bounds of due moderation” and that he had “at least criminally negligent intent.” As a result, his child cruelty conviction is affirmed. Legal standard “The proscription in ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Marla Graff Decker Virginia Court of Appeals

Where a prisoner sought a reduction of his drug-related sentence under the First Step Act, because neither general sentencing law nor recent Fourth Circuit precedent authorized the reduction of his statutory mandatory minimum terms on three § 924(c)(1)(C) counts, the ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Mark S. Davis U.S. District Court - Eastern District