A defendant will face multiple drug-related charges because a lower court erred in failing to apply a good faith exception to the exclusionary rule. The search warrant contained indicia of probable cause, described the items sought, the place to be ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge William G. Petty Virginia Court of Appeals

A DUI conviction stands despite a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that warrantless blood draws incident to arrest are prohibited. The arrest and blood draw in this case occurred in 2015, when the practice was allowed under Virginia law. Background ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge William G. Petty Virginia Court of Appeals

A court sidestepped the question of whether the trial court should have redacted the phrase “Status Post Assault/Manual Strangulation” from an autopsy report, in a case where the defendant was charged with strangulation, finding the inclusion was harmless when considering ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge William G. Petty Virginia Court of Appeals

An officer had probable cause to conduct a full search of a defendant during a traffic stop where the defendant, and the vehicle he was in, smelled of marijuana, a police alert indicated that the defendant could be armed, and ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge William G. Petty Virginia Court of Appeals

Circumstantial evidence and reasonable inferences, including the appellant’s shifting explanations and the fact that his driver’s permit, cellphone and the victim’s belongings were found in a stolen car, supported his larceny conviction. Background On April 9, 2016, at about 4:15 ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge William G. Petty Virginia Court of Appeals

The court lacked jurisdiction to determine if the commission erred in vacating a prior order awarding benefits because the commission’s order was neither a final order nor an appealable interlocutory order. Background Tracy Irby suffered an injury at work on ...

Tagged with: Judge William G. Petty Virginia Court of Appeals Workers' Compensation

Although the trial court erred in admitting psychological records about the mother’s condition at the time she was committed, the error was harmless because it did not go to the critical issue: the mother’s condition at the time of the ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations Judge William G. Petty Virginia Court of Appeals

In a case where a woman robbed two Walgreens and led the clerks to believe she had a gun, the commonwealth was required to prove she possessed either an actual firearm or an object that gave the appearance of one. ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge William G. Petty Virginia Court of Appeals

Although the trial court may have erred in admitting the defendant’s Facebook posts during the sentencing phase of his murder trial, the defendant’s failure to present the precise arguments to the court foreclosed his ability to raise the issue on ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge William G. Petty Virginia Court of Appeals

Although a jury at sentencing was allowed to hear about a robbery defendant’s Facebook post – allegedly offering stolen pills for sale – the Court of Appeals of Virginia refused to disturb the man’s conviction and 28 year sentence. The ...

Tagged with: Criminal Law Judge William G. Petty Virginia Court of Appeals News