Gun in Console Was Not ‘Concealed’
An officer’s testimony about arresting defendant in his vehicle on the Blue Ridge Parkway established that the console of defendant’s vehicle was closed, but the officer could not recall if it was...
View ArticleProsecutor Didn’t Prove Laptop Value
The Court of Appeals reverses defendant’s conviction for grand larceny of a laptop computer because the commonwealth failed to prove the value of the item was $200 or more. A store manager for a...
View ArticleProsecutor Didn’t Prove Laptop Value
The Court of Appeals reverses defendant’s conviction for grand larceny of a laptop computer because the commonwealth failed to prove the value of the item was $200 or more. A store manager for a...
View ArticleShooting Into Car Not a ‘Harmless’ Act
Testimony by the driver of a car and his fiancée/passenger that defendant, an acquaintance of the driver, pulled alongside the car, threatened to kill the driver and then shot toward the car, supported...
View ArticleOfficer Wins Credibility Contest
Although appellant testified that there was nothing in the driver’s side cup holder but a cigar he had been smoking, an officer testified that he found a plastic baggie with two small pieces of cocaine...
View ArticleMarijuana Smell Supported Car Search
A 26-year veteran of the Virginia State Police Department who spent eight years handling a drug dog qualified as an expert on the smell of marijuana and her observation of that smell from defendant’s...
View ArticleDamaged Car in Driveway Leads to DUI
Although defendant was not observed behind the wheel of the damaged vehicle that appeared in a private driveway, the evidence of his admission to having “hit something” and having had five glasses of...
View ArticleNo Commonwealth Appeal of Immunity Clause
The Court of Appeals dismisses the commonwealth’s appeal of a circuit court order dismissing four indictments against defendant based on the immunity provision in defendant’s prior plea agreement and...
View ArticleSpousal Support Formula Was Self-Executing
A divorce court erred in finding that the parties’ formula for calculating spousal support for wife was ambiguous and in finding the lawyer husband in contempt for his independent application of the...
View ArticleClaimant Cancelled Job Interviews
A claimant who had his own plumbing business but could no longer perform that work after a job-related injury to his right shoulder unjustifiably refused to cooperate with vocational rehabilitation...
View ArticleBenefits Terminated After Job Layoff
The Court of Appeals affirms the commission’s factual determinations regarding claimant’s credibility, identification of her specific injuries from a fall and her non-violation of a safety rule...
View ArticleNotice to Defendant Inadequate for Revocation
The Court of Appeals reverses revocation of defendant’s suspended sentence for cocaine distribution; the circuit court erred in allowing the commonwealth to present evidence during the revocation...
View ArticleDecree’s Child Support Provision Was Void
On rehearing, a Court of Appeals panel vacates its prior decision upholding child support arrearages and attorney’s fees for mother, and agrees with father that the child support provisions of the...
View ArticleTimber Value Not Proved for Grand Larceny
Although appellant does not contest a trial court’s conclusion that he cut down and took trees from a neighbor’s property, the commonwealth did not prove the value of the timber, and the Court of...
View ArticleCourt Should Have Severed Sex Offense Trials
A trial court erred in not severing defendant’s charges of committing aggravated sexual battery against two different child victims, in incidents several months apart during 2006; the Court of Appeals...
View ArticlePrior Sentence Admission Was Harmless Error
A defendant convicted of firearm possession as a felon cannot overturn that conviction with a claim that the trial court erred in not allowing him to cross-examine a prosecution witness – defendant’s...
View ArticleBrothers Conspired to Sell Morphine
The Court of Appeals says a defendant picked up with his brother, who had a recent Oxycodone prescription that was missing 50 pills in a period of days, can be convicted of conspiracy and possession...
View ArticleOwner Kept Two Apartments Separate
A defendant who opened a door to enter the separate living quarters of the owner of the apartment he rented, created earlier when the owner converted three bedrooms of her former single-family home...
View ArticleReduced-Charge DUI Not Counted for Sentence
A trial court erred in allowing a prior DUI conviction that was based on a reduced charge to count as a third DUI offense within five years under Va. Code § 18.2-270; the Court of Appeals affirms...
View ArticleProsecutor Proved Prior DUI Conviction
Although defendant presented documents challenging the prosecution’s assertion that he was convicted of DUI in violation of Va. Code § 18.2-266 in 2005, the trial court reasonably could count that...
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