The Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission properly ordered employer to compensate claimant for the sick and personal leave time she used to cover a gap in pay while she was off work due to a compensable injury. Background From Aug. 18, ...

Tagged with: Judge William G. Petty Virginia Court of Appeals Workers’ Comp

Where an adoption agency sent a certified letter to a putative father informing him about the Virginia Birth Father Registry, he was not obligated to register within the time specified in Code § 63.2-1250(F) to have standing to participate in ...

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

Where the trial court included $800 for monthly child-care expenses in its child support award to mother, this was error because she did not actually incur the expenses. Overview Mother had primary custody of the parties’ three children.  She relocated ...

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

Even though wife’s receipt of an inheritance was a changed circumstance, the trial court properly concluded that it did not warrant ending husband’s spousal support obligation. Facts The final divorce decree awarded wife $800 per month in permanent spousal support. ...

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

Where appellant was indicted for carnal knowledge of a child between the age of 13 and 15, there was no error when the trial court allowed the commonwealth to amend the indictment at trial to taking indecent liberties with a ...

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

Where appellant did not challenge his indictment for criminal street gang recruitment before the court found him guilty after a bench trial, he cannot appeal his conviction on the basis that the indictment charged him with making a felonious threat ...

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

Appellant’s conviction for destruction of property greater than $1,000 is reversed because the court convicted him using an incorrect legal standard. Destruction of property greater than $1,000 is a specific intent crime. It is not a general intent crime, as ...

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

Even though appellant complied with all conditions of the plea agreement except for the payment of court costs, the trial court did not abuse its discretion by adjudicating his guilt. Overview Under a plea agreement, Smallwood entered a guilty plea ...

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

Where police had an objectively reasonable basis to believe appellant was attempting suicide, their entry without a warrant into his apartment was justified under the Fourth Amendment’s emergency aid exception, as was a “cursory sweep” of the apartment, which revealed ...

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

Where appellant sought to suppress a gun discovered in a backpack while the police were searching his car, the trial court correctly concluded that the search was an invalid inventory search but erred by admitting the evidence under the inevitable ...

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