After being released with a verbal warning for a broken brake light and driving on a suspended license, a reasonable person in the defendant’s position would have felt free to leave. Therefore, his consent for a vehicle search was valid, ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Criminal Judge Glen A. Huff Search & Seizure Traffic Offenses Virginia Court of Appeals

The Supreme Court of Virginia affirmed a circuit court ruling that Appellant Nathan Lee Shin unreasonably refused to submit to a breath test. On August 29, 2015, Shin was detained on suspicion of DWI. After Shin declined to provide a ...

Tagged with: Justice Cleo E. Powell Supreme Court of Virginia Traffic Offenses

At defendant’s trial for DUI, third or subsequent offense, the trial court erred in admitting into evidence defendant’s two prior California DUI convictions; the commonwealth failed to prove the California DUI statute is substantially similar to Va. Code § 18.2-266, ...

Tagged with: Judge Mary Bennett Malveaux Traffic Offenses Unpublished Opinion Virginia Court of Appeals

The Alexandria U.S. District Court affirms the magistrate judge’s decision and upholds defendant’s DUI conviction because there was sufficient evidence to support a finding of guilt, including an officer’s observation of defendant’s multiple lane violations, defendant’s smell of alcohol and ...

Tagged with: Judge Gerald Bruce Lee Traffic Offenses U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A driver who had a BAC of 0.181 more than three and one-half hours after he plowed into a tow truck and its driver attempting to tow a vehicle cannot overturn his convictions of aggravated involuntary manslaughter and felony hit-and ...

Tagged with: Judge Randolph A. Beales Traffic Offenses Unpublished Opinion Virginia Court of Appeals

The Court of Appeals affirms defendant’s conviction of involuntary manslaughter after rear-ending a Nissan Sentra with his Hyundai Sonata, while driving with a BAC of .172 percent and traveling at a high rate of speed, according to his vehicle’s event ...

Tagged with: Judge Mary Grace O'Brien Traffic Offenses Unpublished Opinion Virginia Court of Appeals

An officer responding to a call about an erratic driver, who approached the driver identified by the caller after the driver had exited from his parked car, did not seize the driver when he asked to see his driver’s license, ...

Tagged with: Judge Marla Graff Decker Traffic Offenses Unpublished Opinion Virginia Court of Appeals

Although an insurance adjuster initially assessed damage to a Prius at $792, the body shop’s final bill of $1,484, including parts and labor, was proof that the damage exceeded $1,000; where a vehicle can be repaired, the total reasonable cost ...

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

A traffic officer who testified he had conducted “thousands” of traffic stops, looked at the inspection sticker of almost every vehicle that passed him on the road, and had encountered taped-on stickers 50 to 60 times, established that he had ...

Tagged with: Judge Marla Graff Decker Traffic Offenses Unpublished Opinion Virginia Court of Appeals

In sentencing defendant for DUI and refusal to submit to a breathalyzer, the trial court did not err in enhancing the Virginia charges based on defendant’s prior convictions under Florida’s DUI statute, which was “substantially similar” to Virginia’s DUI statute, ...

Tagged with: Judge Glen A. Huff Traffic Offenses Virginia Court of Appeals