In terminating a father’s parental rights, the circuit court did not err in finding that relative placement with the father’s mother would be detrimental to the child due to the possibility that she would permit the father to live with ...

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

Because a mother first raised the fact of a positive drug test on her sentencing date in a different matter, and because her children had been in foster care for nearly a year and a half, the circuit court did ...

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

The Supreme Court of Virgnia has adopted proposed criminal discovery rule changes recommended in December by a Virginia State Bar task force. Only minor changes were made in the task force recommendation, according to attorneys who reviewed the court’s order. ...

Tagged with: Chief Justice Donald W. Lemons Judge Robert J. Humphreys Supreme Court of Virginia News

The circuit court did not err in suppressing evidence stemming from an arrest that lacked probable cause. Despite the defendant’s proximity to the house at the time of arrest, the fact that his mother and brother lived there, the fact ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Criminal Judge Robert J. Humphreys Search & Seizure Virginia Court of Appeals

A defendant who’d agreed to plead guilty to murder could not withdraw his plea, fairly negotiated, based on the subsequent discovery of a witness with potentially exculpatory testimony. Background Appellant Franklin Thomason was at his home with his girlfriend and ...

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

No Virginia precedent sets forth specific types of evidence that must be proven to show lascivious intent in a sexual battery case. Such intent may be proven with any evidence that establishes such intent beyond a reasonable doubt. Background Four-year-old ...

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

The Supreme Court of Virginia is under increasing pressure to approve reforms to the state’s criminal discovery standards. Despite opposition from the State Police and concerns from many prosecutors, a package of recommended changes now before the court has the ...

Tagged with: Judge Robert J. Humphreys Supreme Court of Virginia News

A continuance ordered due to the hospitalization of defense counsel tolled the speedy trial deadline, because the reason for the delay was unanticipated and beyond the control of the Commonwealth. Background Appellee Calvin Craighead was indicted for two counts of ...

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

An employer was on notice that a workers’ compensation claim related not only to an initial work-related injury and surgery to repair it, but also to a subsequent knee replacement necessitated by the claimant’s post-operative stress fracture. Background Claimant Denzil ...

Tagged with: Employment Judge Robert J. Humphreys U.S. District Court - Western District Workers' Compensation

As seasoned attorneys know, the lofty principles that attract aspiring lawyers can quickly be overshadowed by client emergencies, Sisyphean scheduling conundrums, unreasonable opposing counsel, billing targets, intrafirm politics, and understaffed courts. But from time to time, our esteemed judges take ...

Tagged with: Judge Henry F. Floyd Judge Jackson L. Kiser Judge Randolph A. Beales Judge Robert J. Humphreys Judge Stephanie Dawn Thacker