Evidence supported trial court’s venue decision
The evidence, which included defendant’s admission that she purchased heroin and that it was found in her car in Franklin County, was sufficient to meet the standard required to establish venue in...
View ArticleApplication for more benefits was untimely
Where an employee suffered head injuries in a compensable work accident and was awarded wage benefits for those injuries approximately nine months later, her application for additional benefits...
View ArticleSocial media reporting did not violate First Amendment
Where a convicted sex offender was required to report his social media screennames to authorities, his First Amendment rights were not violated because the reporting requirements advanced a significant...
View ArticleClaimant did not show knee injury arose from employment
Where a truck driver tripped over a mat when departing his employment location but only speculated about what caused him to trip, he did not show that the resulting knee injury resulted from an actual...
View ArticleFuture events properly considered in custody order
Where the court awarded a 50-50 custody period followed by mother having primary physical custody once the child entered first grade, there was no abuse of discretion. A custody decision can be based...
View ArticleEvidence was admissible under plain view doctrine
Where the police had a valid warrant to search appellant’s electronic devices for evidence of drug crimes, the trial court incorrectly suppressed evidence of unrelated crimes discovered during the...
View ArticleMother could not testify in custody case-in-chief
Where the circuit court precluded mother from testifying in her case-in-chief at a custody hearing because, in response to father’s interrogatories, she did not identify herself as a potential witness...
View ArticleBill of review rules used to correct pension award
Under the unusual facts of this case, where the trial court made a clear legal error in awarding husband 100 percent of the marital share of wife’s military pension, the rules pertaining to a bill of...
View ArticleAdmission of pretextual stop bolstered credibility
Even though there was no video evidence that appellant made an abrupt lane change without signaling, and the police officer who stopped him admitted the stop was “pretextual,” the trial court’s...
View ArticleCondo properly included as marital property
Even though there was no evidence to counter husband’s de bene esse deposition testimony that no marital funds were used to purchase a condominium, the court was free to reject husband’s evidence and...
View ArticleSentencing issue not raised in trial court
Where appellant argues that the trial court, when imposing sentence, improperly considered his failure to accept a deferred disposition of this domestic assault case in the JDR court, appellant has...
View ArticleChallenge to adoption order was untimely
A statute that provides a final order of adoption cannot be appealed after six months is the “outer boundary” for bringing a challenge based on an exception to Rule 1:1’s 21-day limit in which to...
View ArticleAccommodation defense rejected in heroin case
The circuit court correctly rejected appellant’s accommodation defense, which would have entitled him to a lesser punishment for possessing heroin with intent to distribute. The accommodation evidence...
View ArticleOther-acts evidence correctly admitted at burglary trial
Where the trial court admitted other-acts evidence – an uncharged burglary – at appellant’s burglary trial under the modus operandi exception to the general rule barring evidence of other criminal...
View ArticleTrial court correctly refused entrapment instruction
Where the evidence shows that it was appellant’s idea to become a confidential informant and participate in a controlled drug buy with a high-level distributor, the trial court correctly refused to...
View ArticleIncreased income did not warrant support modification
Where the trial court denied husband’s motion for reduced spousal support because wife acquired a job, the trial court properly determined that this was not a material change in circumstances that...
View ArticleConflicts waived right to counsel
Where appellant developed numerous conflicts with appointed counsel, the trial court correctly concluded this was a “deliberate delay strategy” that resulted in a waiver of the right to counsel....
View ArticleConviction for violating identification ordinance reversed
Appellant’s conviction for violating a city ordinance that require a person to produce identification when “the surrounding circumstances are such as to indicate to a reasonable man that the public...
View ArticlePayment application not barred by laches
A medical service provider’s application to the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission to recover an unpaid balance owed by the city of Newport News for treating an injured employee was not barred...
View ArticleRestricted movement during bank robbery was abduction
Where appellant ordered three bank employees to lie on the floor during the course of his robbery, this restriction of movement was sufficient to support independent charges of, and convictions for,...
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