Posted on February 15, 2022 in Criminal Defense

In a recent opinion from a Virginia court, the defendant unsuccessfully appealed his criminal convictions of rape, forcible sodomy, abduction, and the use of a firearm in the commission of these felonies. Originally, a grand jury indicted the defendant of all of the above charges based on his interactions with a woman he met in 2017. On appeal, the defendant argued there was insufficient evidence to find him guilty. Rejecting this argument, the higher court affirmed the defendant’s convictions.

Facts of the Case

The defendant first came into contact with the victim in this case in 2017, when he approached her at a carwash to offer her some landscaping work. The victim was homeless at the time and was looking for ways to earn money, as her primary income came through cleaning and detailing vehicles that came through the carwash. The victim said yes to the defendant’s offer, and the defendant immediately drove her to his home where he gave her crack cocaine. The victim proceeded to spend the next few days with the defendant, sleeping at his house and following up on his offer to give her landscaping work.

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 Posted on January 31, 2022 in Criminal Defense

In a recent opinion from a Virginia court, the defendant’s appeal of his DWI conviction was denied. On appeal, the defendant argued that there was not enough evidence to prove that he was driving while intoxicated, and thus that his guilty verdict was unjust. The court disagreed, rejecting the defendant’s challenge and affirming his original conviction.

Facts of the Case

According to the opinion, a State Trooper received a call just after midnight one evening asking him to respond to an accident just down the road. The Trooper quickly arrived at the scene and saw a pickup truck with damage on all sides, leading him to believe that the truck had left the road and rolled over. At the scene, the Trooper saw only the defendant, one witness, and emergency personnel who were responding to the defendant’s injuries.

The defendant was the only person at the scene who was injured. He had blood on his face and he also smelled of alcohol. When the Trooper asked the defendant what had caused the accident, the defendant replied that he did not remember. He only said that he was on his way home from a friend’s house at the time of the crash. The Trooper ran the vehicle through his system and found out that the truck was registered to a female who lived with the defendant. She was not at the scene.

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 Posted on January 18, 2022 in Criminal Defense

In a recent opinion coming from a federal court in the southeast, the defendant’s attempt to challenge the length of his sentence was denied. The defendant had been found guilty of distribution of fentanyl, and he argued on appeal that his resulting sentence was unreasonably long. The court disagreed, keeping his original sentence in place.

Facts of the Case

According to the opinion, the defendant was accused of selling drugs to a man who eventually overdosed. The man, who was found unconscious on his bathroom floor, had heroin and fentanyl in his system at the time of his death. Investigators soon learned of the chain of events that led to the man’s death: the defendant in this case had texted the man a few days earlier, bragging that he was in possession of a drug called "China White," which is a narcotic containing fentanyl. When the defendant told the man about the China White, he bragged that it was very strong and that people were "going out" on the drug.

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 Posted on January 18, 2022 in Criminal Defense

In a recent drug case in Virginia, the court decided that despite some arguments to the contrary, a defendant had conspired to distribute methamphetamine. Originally, the defendant had argued that she was only guilty of one single incident of drug dealing and that one incident did not constitute an entire “conspiracy.” The court disagreed, affirming her guilty verdict.

Facts of the Case

According to the opinion, an undercover police officer pretending to be a drug dealer began a text exchange with someone he suspected of dealing methamphetamine. The officer and the suspect arranged to meet at a Dollar General store to trade a Pontiac car for three “8-balls” of meth – the undercover officer said he would provide the car if the suspect provided the meth.

The suspect promptly contacted the defendant in this case and showed her the text exchange with the undercover police officer. The defendant did not have any drugs, but she immediately became interested in acquiring the car. The male suspect, then, agreed to front the defendant the drugs as long as he was properly reimbursed over time. The pair agreed to drive together to the meeting point, and the defendant said she would hold the drugs in her bra. When they arrived at the Dollar General store, the undercover officer was waiting for them. He and two other deputies arrested the pair immediately. At trial a few months later, the defendant was found guilty of indictment against her male counterpart as well as one count of possessing drugs with intent to distribute and one count of conspiracy to distribute drugs.

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 Posted on January 10, 2022 in Criminal Defense

In a recent opinion from a Virginia court, the defendant’s appeal in her assault and battery case was denied. The defendant was originally found guilty of acting violently towards a police officer when the officer came to investigate an emergency call at the defendant’s place of residence. On appeal, the defendant argued the officer was trespassing on her property and that it was thus her right to try and push him out of the home. The court disagreed, finding the defendant’s actions unreasonable and affirming her guilty verdict.

Facts of the Case

According to the opinion, an officer in Virginia was dispatched to the defendant’s home one evening after 10:00 pm. At the time, the officer was not sure why the emergency call had been placed or what exactly was happening in the defendant’s place of residence. When the officer arrived, he found the defendant yelling at a man who was standing on the front porch. The man explained to the police officer that he lived at the home and wanted to get his belongings from inside. The defendant yelled towards the officer that the man had acted physically violent and that he was not welcome in her home.

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 Posted on December 24, 2021 in Criminal Defense

The Commonwealth of Virginia is known for having some of the strictest DWI and DUI laws in the United States. With strict policies already in place, law enforcement will be even stricter during the holiday season as they pull over potentially impaired drivers. The end of the year is a busy time for police officers, and they will be monitoring the roads even more closely as Christmas and New Year’s approach.

Now through the end of the year, 116 different Virginia law enforcement agencies will be patrolling the streets to keep drunk drivers off the road. These agencies are part of Governor Northam’s push to keep drunk driving to a minimum and to keep travelers safe over the holidays. Mindful of the fact that 272 Virginians died in car crashes involving alcohol in 2020, officers will be keen to pull over individuals that they even slightly suspect might driving be under the influence.

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 Posted on December 10, 2021 in Criminal Defense

In a recent opinion coming out of a Virginia court, the higher court disagreed with the lower court’s decision to grant a defendant bond. The lower court had previously decided that, since the defendant had been incarcerated for a long time, he should be allowed to leave prison before his trial was heard. The higher court disagreed, saying that this sole factor of time spent incarcerated was not enough reason to let the defendant out of prison earlier than originally planned.

The Facts of the Case

In September 2019, the defendant was charged, arrested, and incarcerated because of possession of a firearm after having been previously convicted of a violent felony. The defendant was first told to show up in court in October 2019; he appeared for his first hearing, and then waited for his case to be heard by the circuit court in Virginia. The defendant was called into court again in January 2020 for a bail hearing, but he requested that his hearing be postponed so that he could retrieve new counsel. Over time, the defendant kept requesting that his hearing be postponed, and his case was not heard in court until April 2021 as a result.

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 Posted on December 01, 2021 in Criminal Defense

If you have been a longtime driver on Virginia highways, it’s possible that you have seen what law enforcement refers to as a checkpoint. These checkpoints allow officers to stop cars and see if drivers have been drinking or violating any other traffic law. Checkpoints greatly increase the number of arrests made on the roads in Virginia, and there are certain laws about what police officers can and cannot do when conducting stops in this particular way. If you are stopped at a DUI checkpoint, it is crucial that you know your rights.

General Guidelines for DUI Checkpoints

The Fourth Amendment protects individuals from unreasonable searches and seizures. On the road, this means that a police officer cannot unreasonably search your car or unreasonably seize personal items from your car. In 1990, the Supreme Court ruled that DUI checkpoints are generally legal; however, there are restrictions on the setup and implementation of these checkpoints.

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 Posted on December 01, 2021 in Criminal Defense

The elements required to convict a defendant of a sexual offense in Virginia vary greatly based upon several factors. The age of this victim, the age of the alleged perpetrator, the degree of force used to perpetrate an assault, and the nature of an assault each factor into a determination of what crime, if any, a defendant can be charged and convicted of. The Virginia Court of Appeals recently heard an appeal by a defendant who challenged his aggravated sexual battery conviction based upon allegations that he molested a fourteen-year-old girl who was sleeping at her home.

The defendant in the recently decided appeal was charged with aggravated sexual battery after he allegedly touched the genitals of the cousin of someone he was dating who lived in their home. According to the facts discussed in the appellate opinion, the victim, who was fourteen years old at the time of the assault, had been sleeping on the couch in her home when she awoke to the defendant touching her genitals. After the victim notified other adults of what happened and authorities were notified, the defendant was arrested and charged with aggravated sexual battery.

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 Posted on November 24, 2021 in Criminal Defense

Tips given to law enforcement officers by confidential informants are often used to establish reasonable suspicion for a detention or probable cause for a search or arrest. State and federal constitutional protections still play a role in determining the legality of police interactions with the public, even when reliable tips from informants are involved. The Court of Appeals of Virginia recently ruled in favor of the state after a defendant challenged the legality of his detention based on a tip from a confidential informant that he was involved in commercial drug activity.

In the recently decided case, the defendant was arrested and charged with dealing drugs after police were notified of his activity by a confidential informant. Based on the tip from the informant that a man matching the description of the defendant was selling drugs on the street, detectives stopped the defendant for questioning. The defendant was handcuffed and made to wait with the police when a canine drug detection unit arrived. After the canine signaled to police that the man was in possession of narcotics, a search was performed, and police found drugs on him.

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