Expert testimony from a police detective about the packaging of 3.322 grams of crack cocaine in a bag defendant kept in his buttocks supported the trial court conclusion that defendant intended to distribute the drugs, and the Court of Appeals ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Jean Harrison Clements Virginia Court of Appeals

At defendant’s trial on multiple counts of drug conspiracy and distribution, the trial court did not err in declining to instruct the jury on the lesser punishment of distribution for accommodation because defendant claimed she was simply doing a favor ...

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

Although defendant contends the testimony of the teenage witness who described defendant’s sexual assaults of her when she was 14 and 15 was “inherently incredible,” the Court of Appeals says the evidence as a whole, which included extensive corroboration of ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Larry G. Elder Virginia Court of Appeals

A Navy Seal trainee convicted in 1996 of the murder of a young woman he and a fellow trainee met in a Virginia Beach nightclub is not entitled to a writ of actual innocence, the en banc Court of Appeals ...

Tagged with: Criminal Virginia Court of Appeals

On appeal by the commonwealth and a power company, the Court of Appeals says a Richmond Circuit Court erred when it set aside a portion of the reissuance of a five-year water discharge permit for Dominion Virginia Power’s North Anna ...

Tagged with: Administrative Judge Robert J. Humphreys Virginia Court of Appeals

The en banc Court of Appeals has rejected a writ of actual innocence for Dustin Turner, the former Navy Seal trainee who has been serving time for a murder he says he did not commit. Turner was convicted in 1996 ...

Tagged with: Virginia Court of Appeals

A trial court did not violate the hearsay rule by admitting vehicle VIN database information for the purpose of explaining a police officer’s actions when identifying and investigating a stolen car; nor did the trial court, as fact finder, convict ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge D. Arthur Kelsey Virginia Court of Appeals

Although the commonwealth provided evidence of the cost to replace a rental jackhammer that defendant never returned, and his rental fees of $221, the value of an item is its fair market value at the time of taking, and the ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge James W. Haley Jr. Virginia Court of Appeals

Although defendant claimed the item he possessed was not a weapon within the meaning of Va. Code § 18.2-308(A), the Court of Appeals affirms his conviction for possession of a concealed weapon by a convicted felon. Police were called after ...

Tagged with: Criminal Virginia Court of Appeals

Although police officers who stopped defendant’s car for a traffic violation observed a strong smell of marijuana coming from the car, and that he denied having the vehicle registration because the car belonged to his daughter’s mother, there nevertheless was ...

Tagged with: Criminal Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr. Virginia Court of Appeals