A writ of error coram vobis cannot be used to vacate a 1997 petit larceny conviction based on the uncontested fact that the trial court did not obtain a knowing, intelligent and voluntary waiver of defendant’s constitutional rights at the ...

Tagged with: Criminal Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Randy I. Bellows Virginia Circuit Courts

In most courthouses, there is a friendly and cooperative relationship between law enforcement officers and the prosecutors who put on their evidence in court. After all, the officers and the state’s lawyers share the common goal of bringing the bad ...

Tagged with: Commonwealth's Attorneys Criminal Culpeper County Circuit Court Fairfax County Circuit Court Federal Courts Judge Randy I. Bellows Judge Susan L. Whitlock

For good cause shown, a Fairfax Circuit Court grants leave for a defendant to file a responsive pleading on the morning after it was due despite counsel’s one-day calculation error. Plaintiffs filed an amended complaint on Oct. 14, 2014. Pursuant ...

Tagged with: Civil Procedure Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Randy I. Bellows Virginia Circuit Courts

In ruling on a motion to compel documents in an investigation of a police shooting of an unarmed man in his home in August 2013, a Fairfax Circuit Court says a “criminal investigative file privilege” survives 2014 changes to the ...

Tagged with: Civil Rights Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Randy I. Bellows Virginia Circuit Courts

A Fairfax Circuit Court upholds denial of a special permit to a recreation association and a wireless telecommunications carrier to allow construction of a 128-foot stealth monopole and ancillary equipment on the association’s property. Petitioner argues that the Board of ...

Tagged with: Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Randy I. Bellows Virginia Circuit Courts Zoning

In this first-impression case, a Fairfax Circuit Court sets aside a guilty verdict of attempted robbery and orders a new trial based on a post-trial discovery that a subpoenaed defense witness, who would have provided material exculpatory evidence, asserted his ...

Tagged with: Criminal Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Randy I. Bellows Virginia Circuit Courts

A petition for review of a Board of Zoning Appeals need not be dismissed for failure to name the county board of supervisors in the style of the case; the Fairfax Circuit Court says petitioner’s style of “In re: [date] ...

Tagged with: Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Randy I. Bellows Virginia Circuit Courts Zoning

A defendant who was convicted for driving after being declared an habitual offender after he was observed by an officer causing a minor traffic accident and had a BAC of .08, and who was sentenced to five years, with two ...

Tagged with: Criminal Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Randy I. Bellows Virginia Circuit Courts

Although plaintiff and decedent husband divorced in 1995 and in 2000, decedent designated defendant, his widow, as beneficiary of his federal Thrift Savings Plan benefit, that designation was invalid because it could not be witnessed by defendant who was a ...

Tagged with: Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Randy I. Bellows Virginia Circuit Courts Wills & Trusts

In a new decision on a highly charged issue, the Supreme Court of Virginia has taken a broad view of a trial judge’s inherent authority to consider different outcomes for those who plead guilty to criminal charges. The high court ...

Tagged with: Criminal Fairfax County Circuit Court Hernandez Judge Randy I. Bellows Justice Cynthia D. Kinser Justice Elizabeth A. McClanahan Justice William C. Mims Supreme Court of Virginia News