The government effectively relied entirely on propensity evidence to support charges of receipt and distribution of child pornography, without reasonably connecting such evidence to actual photos and videos found on the defendant’s computer. A judgment of acquittal, or alternatively a ...

Tagged with: Criminal Evidence Judge Anthony J. Trenga U.S. District Court - Eastern District

In the trial of two defendants charged with producing “spice,” the district court erred in denying their request for testimony by a DEA expert who had publicly opined in other cases that the defendants’ product was not analogous to a ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Evidence Judge Dennis W. Shedd

There was no error in a defendant’s convictions for burglary and grand larceny, despite his claim that he bought the stolen items. The jury was entitled to disbelieve his story about buying the items from an unknown woman for whom ...

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

The court of appeals granted two petitions for writs of actual innocence, based on another person’s confession to both robberies for which the petitioner was convicted. Background In 2007, Petitioner Gary Bush was convicted in the City of Petersburg Circuit ...

Tagged with: Criminal Per Curiam Opinion Virginia Court of Appeals

A defendant on trial for falsely reporting sexual abuse to law enforcement could be tried either in the jurisdiction she was in when she made the report, if known, or in the jurisdiction to which she made the report and ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Teresa M. Chafin Virginia Court of Appeals

The district court did not err in declining to reduce the defendant’s sentence on grounds that he accepted responsibility for his offenses, since he fled the country before his initial sentencing hearing. However, the defendant should have been granted leave ...

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

The trial court did not err in partially denying the defendant’s request for grand jury information, declining to change the trial venue despite widespread publicity of the crime, conducting six days of voir dire, or accepting the jury’s rejection of ...

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

The defendant’s conviction for possession of a weapon by a violent felon did not violate his rights under the Double Jeopardy Clause, notwithstanding his previous acquittal by jury of the separate offenses of use of a firearm in the commission ...

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

Even if a witness’s prior consistent written statement did not meet the standards for admissibility under the applicable hearsay exception, it didn’t affect the jury verdict because it was corroborated by substantial other testimony. Background Appellant Juan Candelaria and Joseph ...

Tagged with: Criminal Evidence Judge Teresa M. Chafin Virginia Court of Appeals

When asked to impose a shorter sentence based on the defendant’s well-documented history of mental illness, the sentencing court was required to explain why it rejected such mitigation. Defense counsel had argued that the defendant’s multiple death threats sent to ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Pamela A. Harris Sentencing