A divorcing father’s unilateral decision to use a marital investment account to pay for his adult son’s master’s program was properly considered waste of the marital assets, the Court of Appeals of Virginia has ruled. A Fairfax County circuit judge ...

Tagged with: Judge Bruce D. White Judge Glen A. Huff Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr. Judge Wesley G. Russell Jr. Virginia Court of Appeals News

In a divorce action, the court affirmed an equitable distribution that offset the husband’s share by the amount he independently spent on college tuition for the divorcing couple’s adult son. The husband was unable to overcome the marital presumption attaching ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Judge Wesley G. Russell Jr. Virginia Court of Appeals

The court of appeals held that the trial court, considering a motion to suppress, did not err in admitting an officer’s testimony that, before he attempted to arrest the defendant, another officer had said that the defendant was subject to ...

Tagged with: Evidence Judge Wesley G. Russell Jr. Unpublished Opinion Virginia Court of Appeals

The court of appeals affirmed that the Indian Child Welfare Act’s protections were not triggered by Appellant Jocelyn Lee Geouge’s assertion that her child might be of Cherokee descent. In this case, Geouge challenged the adoption of her biological daughter, ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Judge Wesley G. Russell Jr. Virginia Court of Appeals

Cartagena v. Commonwealth (VLW No. 017-7-282, 12 pp.) (Russell, J.) Appealed from Virginia Beach Circuit Court (Padrick, J) Va. App. Pub. Holding:  Defendant was convicted of falsifying a firearm consent form, attempted possession of a firearm by a felon, and ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Wesley G. Russell Jr. Virginia Court of Appeals

A divided panel of the Court of Ap­peals of Virginia has reversed the felony child neglect conviction of a Pulaski County mother whose 5-year-old son died in a septic tank accident. The 2-1 ruling holds that prosecutors failed to show ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr. Judge Wesley G. Russell Jr. Judge William G. Petty Virginia Court of Appeals

A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals, granted a petition for appeal for a defendant charged with robbery, attempted carjacking, and conspiracy to commit carjacking, it found that the trial court erred in denying defendant’s motion to strike all ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Marla Graff Decker Judge Robert J. Humphreys Judge Wesley G. Russell Jr. Virginia Court of Appeals

A mother who left her five-year-old son and four-month-old daughter alone in an unlocked car in a public parking lot for 14 and one-half minutes is not guilty of felony child endangerment; the Court of Appeals reverses her conviction for ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Wesley G. Russell Jr. Virginia Court of Appeals

The Court of Appeals terminates a father’s parental rights to his two daughters, who were removed from their home due to a history of substance abuse by both parents, as well as arrests and incarceration. Appellant’s rights were terminated in ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Judge Wesley G. Russell Jr. Unpublished Opinion Virginia Court of Appeals

A defendant cannot overturn his conviction of cocaine distribution, third or subsequent offense, by challenging the trial court’s admission of certified pages of a Lynchburg Circuit Court order book to prove his prior convictions, or the trial court’s refusal to ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Wesley G. Russell Jr. Unpublished Opinion Virginia Court of Appeals