At defendant’s grand larceny trial for removing furnishings from a rented home, defendant’s proffer at trial for calling a former codefendant failed to establish the relevance of the codefendant’s testimony, and the trial court did not err in excluding the ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Sam W. Coleman III Virginia Court of Appeals

Although defendant claimed the victim suffered only a “cosmetically hidden injury” when he struck her in the head with a rock prior to stealing her ring, phone and cash, and there was no medical evidence indicating her daily headaches were ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Sam W. Coleman III Virginia Court of Appeals

A defendant who invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to testify was not “unavailable” at his robbery trial, and the trial court erred in holding that defendant, as a hearsay declarant, was unavailable for purposes of applying the declaration-against-penal-interest exception ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Sam W. Coleman III Virginia Court of Appeals

The Court of Appeals affirms revoking defendant’s suspended sentence and parole for his 2007 grand larceny conviction; the sentencing judge properly considered five new crimes defendant committed after his 2007 sentencing, before a 2011 revocation proceeding for noncompliance with supervision ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Sam W. Coleman III Virginia Court of Appeals

In successive appeals of his two jury trial convictions for violent-felon firearm possession, the Court of Appeals rejects defendant’s double jeopardy argument:  the gun defendant threw running from police and the gun found at his mother’s home were separate offenses ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Sam W. Coleman III Virginia Court of Appeals

A defendant charged with production and possession of child pornography should have been allowed to withdraw her no-contest pleas after defendant obtained evidence the photographer who took nude photos of her 17-year-old daughter added contract language about taking nude photographs ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Sam W. Coleman III Virginia Court of Appeals

In husband’s appeal of the circuit court’s refusal to terminate spousal support for cohabitation, the Court of Appeals reverses and remands; Va. Code § 20-109 as amended in 1997 requires termination for cohabitation where the parties’ agreement does not expressly ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Judge Sam W. Coleman III Virginia Court of Appeals

The Court of Appeals affirms defendant’s bench trial convictions for attempted burglary with intent to commit larceny in violation of Va. Code §§ 18.2-91 and 18.2-26 based on homeowner’s testimony that defendant knew the garage contents from visiting his stepdaughter ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Sam W. Coleman III Virginia Court of Appeals

The Court of Appeals affirms defendant’s bench trial convictions for misdemeanor domestic assault and battery under Va. Code § 18.2-57.2; the circumstances prove defendant hit his seven-year-old son’s mother, cutting her above the eye, when he grabbed her cell phone ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Sam W. Coleman III Virginia Court of Appeals

The Court of Appeals affirms defendant’s jury trial convictions for murder and use of a firearm; although the final sentencing order must be corrected to refer to first degree murder under Va. Code § 18.2-32 rather than capital murder under ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Sam W. Coleman III Virginia Court of Appeals