Applying the “right result, wrong reason” doctrine, the Supreme Court of Virginia reverses a firearms conviction because it was error to affirm denial of a suppression motion on the ground that defendant consented to the seizure of a gun and ...

Tagged with: Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr. Search & Seizure Supreme Court of Virginia

Because the factual record for defendant’s motion to suppress PCP in his pocket supports appellate review of whether the trooper had reasonable articulable suspicion to pat down defendant, or probable cause to arrest, both Fourth Amendment issues, the Supreme Court ...

Tagged with: Justice Donald W. Lemons Search & Seizure Supreme Court of Virginia

A defendant who parked his car near an apartment in a public housing complex, and who admitted to an officer that he did not have a driver’s license, did not abandon his reasonable expectation of privacy in the vehicle when ...

Tagged with: Judge Larry G. Elder Search & Seizure Virginia Court of Appeals

A defendant who approached police to ask what was “going on with [his] uncle,” who had just been arrested for cocaine possession, was not subjected to a Fourth Amendment violation when he was detained while police waited for a drug ...

Tagged with: Judge Sam W. Coleman III Search & Seizure Virginia Court of Appeals

An officer who says he always pats down a pedestrian or a bike rider did not have a particularized suspicion to support his pat-down of defendant, and the pat-down violated defendant’s Fourth Amendment rights; the Court of Appeals reverses defendant’s ...

Tagged with: Judge Robert J. Humphreys Search & Seizure Virginia Court of Appeals

Although police entered an apartment they saw defendant flee to as they attempted to execute an arrest warrant for defendant, their entry did not violate the Fourth Amendment, says a Richmond U.S. District Court. When officers enter a third party’s ...

Tagged with: Judge Henry E. Hudson Search & Seizure U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Police had a reasonable articulable suspicion to detain defendant where they received reports defendant was walking down the street with a rifle and they observed him, “staggering back and forth across the street,” unsteady on his feet, holding a rifle ...

Tagged with: Judge Robert J. Humphreys Search & Seizure Virginia Court of Appeals

On its own motion, the Virginia Court of Appeals has decided to hear en banc its Sept. 7 decision upholding use of a warrantless GPS device on a man suspected of multiple sexual assaults in the Arlington area. Judge Randolph ...

Tagged with: Search & Seizure

A trial court erred in suppressing a gun defendant had in his right front pocket when police stopped him on a tip that a shooting suspect had left an IHOP in a “dark colored Dodge Durango,” and the Court of ...

Tagged with: Judge Walter S. Felton Jr. Search & Seizure Virginia Court of Appeals

The Court of Appeals upholds suppression of ammunition and a controlled substance discovered when police made a warrantless entry into defendant’s home, claiming justification under the “emergency doctrine” because defendant’s wife had called for assistance. When a deputy arrived at ...

Tagged with: Judge William G. Petty Search & Seizure Virginia Court of Appeals