Federal law permitted harsher sentencing for a defendant’s drug crimes because his prior conviction for voluntary manslaughter in North Carolina qualified as a “violent felony” under the applicable statute. In sentencing Appellant Antoine Smith for drug-possession convictions, the district court ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III Sentencing

Following his trial and conviction by jury, a deportee was acquitted for forcibly resisting ICE officers after the government offered evidence of forcible resistance only to CBP officers. Background Defendant Koffi Ameyapoh, a citizen of Togo, was ordered removed from ...

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

Although the defendant sought to have his murder conviction set aside based on problems with the jury, the circuit court’s resolution of those issues was proper. Background Appellant James Willie Bethea’s 2015 trial for first-degree murder ended with a hung ...

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

The circuit court erred in allowing the Commonwealth to prosecute two different firearms offenses, where Code § 18.2-280(E) required prosecutors to choose one or the other. Background On the night of March 3, 2016, shooting broke out at Club Paradise ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Robert P. Frank Virginia Court of Appeals

Use of a blood test to determine the defendant’s blood alcohol content without a warrant was justified under Virginia’s implied-consent law when administering a breath test would have delayed the defendant’s medical care. Background Alexandria police officer Reid Hudson pulled ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Glen A. Huff Search & Seizure Virginia Court of Appeals

Due to evidence demonstrating a woman’s mental incapacity to appreciate the nature and consequences of intercourse, an intimate encounter between her and another patient at a psychiatric facility amounted to attempted rape. Background On March 15, 2015, Appellant James L. ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Mary B. Malveaux Virginia Court of Appeals

In its first published order of the year, Virginia’s high court reversed an order granting bail to a defendant indicted for first-degree murder. Appellee Bernard Clark Duse Jr. is charged with first-degree murder of his work supervisor and use of ...

Tagged with: Criminal Per Curiam Opinion Supreme Court of Virginia

The court of appeals upheld convictions arising from child pornography files that were not proved to be shared interstate, but were proved to be received on a computer that had been moved between states and between countries. In 2014, FBI ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Henry F. Floyd

The court of appeals upheld convictions arising from child pornography files that were not proved to be shared interstate, but were proved to be received on a computer that had been moved between states and between countries. In 2014. FBI ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Henry F. Floyd

The court of appeals found that Appellant Montrio Santos Neville’s nickname, “Grim Reaper,” was not harmfully introduced at his trial for murder and heroin distribution because (1) he was not convicted for murder, and (2) sufficient other evidence supported his ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Mary Grace O'Brien Unpublished Opinion Virginia Court of Appeals