Sex offender registry law not punitive
Appellant John Allen Baugh Jr. was convicted in 2000 of having carnal knowledge of a minor. As a result, he was required to register as a sex offender under Virginia’s Sex Offender and Crimes Against...
View ArticleVictim’s disability supported attempted-rape conviction
Due to evidence demonstrating a woman’s mental incapacity to appreciate the nature and consequences of intercourse, an intimate encounter between her and another patient at a psychiatric facility...
View ArticleCourt upholds welfare fraud convictions
Evidence was sufficient to support the defendant’s convictions and sentencing for welfare fraud, after she omitted income from her SNAP and fuel assistance applications. Background During 2015 and...
View ArticleEvidence supported meth-manufacture conviction
The Commonwealth sufficiently established that a defendant aided and abetted her camping companion in manufacturing methamphetamine. Background On October 1, 2015, sheriff’s deputies went to a given...
View ArticleConstructive possession supported sentence
Statutory minimum sentencing could not be waived based on the defendant’s non-use of a firearm when evidence established his “constructive possession” of an AK-47 during the offense dates in question....
View ArticleCAV: Explicit Snapchat photos were “exposure”
For criminal liability under Code § 18.2-370, exposure of genital parts to a child need not be in the child’s physical presence if the exhibition is “liable to be seen” by the child. Background...
View ArticleEvidence proved possession of “orphan” computer files
The Commonwealth’s evidence was sufficient to prove that the defendant “possessed” files containing images of child pornography, even if the images were “orphan” remnants of deletion from the...
View ArticleCAV: Reference to prior robbery didn’t warrant mistrial
Despite a pretrial order barring testimony regarding the defendants’ prior robberies, a witness’s brief reference to a “previous” robbery did not explicitly link this robbery to either defendant. The...
View ArticleCAV: Convictions for spitting at officers upheld
Although no one saw actual spittle, testimony from three witnesses who saw and heard the defendant spit at two law enforcement officers was sufficient to support her convictions for assaulting the...
View ArticleCAV: Replacement WCC panel member was proper
The Workers’ Compensation Commission did not err in finding that the composition of the review panel was proper and that the claimant adequately marketed her residual work capacity. Background Claimant...
View ArticleCAV: Taser used to attack runner was “dangerous weapon”
In prosecuting a security worker who used a Taser to commit sexual battery, the Commonwealth did not need to prove it was a “deadly” weapon, only that it was a “dangerous” one. Evidence of the victim’s...
View ArticleCAV: $1 million Medicaid repayment order upheld
A licensed Medicaid provider serving individuals with intellectual disabilities was ordered to repay a state agency for Medicaid reimbursements it issued, due to findings that the provider failed to...
View ArticleCAV: Counsel’s appearance suggests client knew trial date
Timely notice of the required appearance date is not an element of felony failure-to-appear. In this case, notice could be inferred from the defendant’s presence in court (with counsel) when the...
View ArticleCAV: Unknown source of abuse blocks twins’ return home
Twin baby girls who, at about four months old, were found to have bone fractures and subdural hematomas indicative of abuse, could not be returned to their parents’ care when the parents were not...
View ArticleTrial court’s suppression order affirmed
The trial court rejected the defendant’s argument a traffic stop was unlawful, but suppressed certain “allegedly incriminating” statements the defendant made to a magistrate judge because it was unable...
View ArticleInjuries not tied to identifiable incident
Where credible evidence in the record supported the commission’s conclusion that claimant engaged in repetitive movements, could not recall specifically when his symptoms began, and was unable to...
View ArticleWitnesses’ testimony was not contradictory
A man convicted of first-degree murder failed to prove that the testimony of three witnesses was contradictory and did not support the jury’s verdict that he and two others shot the victim. Background...
View ArticleAppellant loses bid to upset firearm conviction
The court found that a man challenging his conviction for possession of a firearm was in constructive possession of a firearm because he was driving a vehicle in which a firearm and ammunition were...
View ArticleWinning traffic case did not estop perjury conviction
Although a driver prevailed in his traffic-infraction trial based upon a video, that did not collaterally estop his subsequent perjury trial, in which the ultimate issue was false testimony, not the...
View ArticleWarrantless arrest within curtilage of home invalid
The police had probable cause to make an arrest, but because the defendant was arrested within the curtilage of his home and there were no exigent circumstances, the trial court did not err in finding...
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