A defendant’s challenge to his enhanced sentence based on a prior drug conviction was rejected, as the court found that a plain reading of the law meant that any prior conviction under the statute triggered the enhanced punishment provisions. Background ...

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

Where the record contained extensive evidence of the horrific child abuse suffered by the child at the hands of the defendant, the trial court did not err in terminating his parental rights. Background On Jan. 27, 2017, Y.Y., a four-year ...

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

In denying a defendant’s motion to suppress, the trial judge appropriately found that a warrantless seizure of heroin in the defendant’s car was supported by probable cause under the plain view exception to a warrant requirement. Background On May 27, ...

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

While the circuit court agreed there was an “unreasonable delay” in the mailing of the final order, it did not err in denying a husband’s request to take an untimely appeal in his bid to terminate spousal support because his ...

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

An employer’s argument that the worker’s comp commission gave too much weight to a medical opinion, and ignored contrary evidence in the record concerning an employee’s injury, was not a valid basis to challenge its decision. Background On Oct. 17, ...

Tagged with: Judge Robert J. Humphreys Virginia Court of Appeals Workers' Compensation

An employer’s argument that the worker’s comp commission gave too much weight to a medical opinion, and ignored contrary evidence in the record concerning an employee’s injury, was not a valid basis to challenge its decision. Background On Oct. 17, ...

Tagged with: Judge Robert J. Humphreys Virginia Court of Appeals Workers' Compensation

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