Where police officers stopped to speak with a defendant after observing his presence in a high crime area and told the defendant to “hang tight” when he attempted to walk away from the encounter, the defendant was unlawfully seized and ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Richard Y. AtLee Jr. Virginia Court of Appeals

A defendant’s conviction was upheld because one issue he raised on appeal referred to an alleged error that was corrected by the trial court and the second assignment of error was waived as it was not adequately briefed. Background Benjamin ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Richard Y. AtLee Jr. Virginia Court of Appeals

A defendant convicted of robbery could not argue on appeal that the trial court violated his rights under the Virginia Constitution and the Sixth Amendment by excluding witnesses because he never raised the argument in the lower court. Background The ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Richard Y. AtLee Jr. Virginia Court of Appeals

A defendant’s claim that the police lacked probable cause to search him was rejected because the search came after police found drugs in his vehicle, giving them a basis to make an arrest and search him incident to that arrest. ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Richard Y. AtLee Jr. Virginia Court of Appeals

A claimant who was denied Medicaid coverage had her appeal dismissed because the attorney who appealed the decision was representing the claimant’s authorized representative, and not the claimant. Background Frances Lynch is a resident at Oakwood Health and Rehabilitation Center, ...

Tagged with: Civil Practice Judge Richard Y. AtLee Jr. Unpublished Opinion Virginia Court of Appeals

Although the court rejected virtually all of the husband’s issues on appeal, the appeal was not a total loss for the husband because the court held he was not responsible for his wife’s attorney’s fees. The court relied on the ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Judge Richard Y. AtLee Jr. Virginia Court of Appeals

Where a defendant repeatedly purchased heroin from a single dealer and the dealer was aware of the defendant’s redistribution of the heroin and had an interest in keeping defendant as his customer, the defendant was properly convicted of a conspiracy ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Richard Y. AtLee Jr. Virginia Court of Appeals

The commonwealth charged defendant with falsely making or embossing a fraudulent credit card. At trial, however, it demonstrated only the defendant tried to use a fraudulent card. The conviction was reversed because the commonwealth failed to prove the crime charged ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Richard Y. AtLee Jr. Virginia Court of Appeals

After sniffing around doors and windows, officers concluded the strong odor of marijuana was coming from the defendant’s trailer. Though they obtained a warrant, the police had unlawfully entered the defendant’s property, leading to the overturning of his conviction. However, ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Richard Y. AtLee Jr. Virginia Court of Appeals

A husband challenging the designation as wholly marital property a home that was retitled during the marriage failed to present evidence relating to value, equity and cost of repairs in order to determine the precise amount he separately contributed. Given ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Judge Richard Y. AtLee Jr. Virginia Court of Appeals