Supreme Court of Virginia

The Court of Appeals' finding that the probationer's internet restrictions violated the First Amendment was reversed. The majority held that the conditional internet ban, which required prior approval and monitoring software, is a permissible probation condition and that the trial court's revocation of the suspended…

The Supreme Court of Virginia held that Premier Homes Group's counterclaim did not comply with Rule 3:25(b) because its demand for attorney fees did not affirmatively identify the basis for recovery — it neither cited Section 8(b) of the subcontracts nor mentioned the subcontracts at all.

The Supreme Court of Virginia affirmed a three-judge circuit court's order suspending attorney Phillip Ben-Zion Leiser's license for three years for violating RPC 8.2 and RPC 8.4(b) by making false or reckless attacks on the integrity of Virginia judges in filings on behalf of two clients.

The Supreme Court of Virginia affirmed the perjury and driving-on-a-suspended-license convictions of Patricia and Tarsha Gerald, mother and daughter tried together in a bench trial in the Albemarle County Circuit Court.

The Supreme Court of Virginia reversed the Court of Appeals' sufficiency-based reversal of Perkins's convictions for malicious wounding and use of a firearm during the commission of a malicious wounding, holding that a rational factfinder could infer a malicious intent to maim, disfigure, disable, or kill from…

The Supreme Court of Virginia affirmed David Stanley James Pijor's perjury conviction, which arose from testimony he gave at his larceny trial that he had neither seen his ex-girlfriend's missing dog, Ben, nor received any information about the dog's whereabouts.

The Court held that the parties' marriage was valid because their ceremony, subsequent acquisition of a license, joint transmission of the marriage register, and the rabbi's execution of the certificate constituted an agreed method of completing solemnization.

The Supreme Court of Virginia held that the circumstantial evidence, viewed collectively and in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, was sufficient for a rational factfinder to find Moseley guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of two burglaries and two grand larcenies.

After the Court of Appeals vacated White's conviction for possession of heroin with intent to distribute (third or subsequent offense) — holding that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress and that the error was not harmless — the Supreme Court of Virginia reversed.

The Supreme Court of Virginia held that the circuit court abused its discretion in a Civil Commitment of Sexually Violent Predators Act jury trial by excluding the testimony of A.G.

The court affirmed the sentencing order imposing lifetime probation after Du’s 50 years of active incarceration and prohibiting contact with his victims as a condition of his suspended sentences.

The Supreme Court of Virginia reversed the Court of Appeals, which had applied the ends of justice exception to Rule 5A:18 to set aside Bass's robbery conviction because the indictments charged the robbery of Irving Smith and attempted robbery of Videll Smith while the proof showed the completed robbery of Videll…

The Supreme Court of Virginia affirmed the convictions and aggregate sentences of two sixteen-year-old offenders sentenced to 133 and 68 active years, holding that Graham v. Florida's prohibition on life-without-parole sentences for juvenile nonhomicide offenders does not extend to multiple term-of-years sentences for…

The Supreme Court of Virginia affirmed the reversal of Swann's convictions because the trial court improperly admitted double hearsay concerning an anonymous tip, and the error was not harmless.

The court held that the circuit court acted within its discretion when it excluded Landrum's expert witnesses after repeated failures to comply with discovery requirements and a specific pretrial order.

The Supreme Court of Virginia reversed the Court of Appeals' judgment vacating McNeal's conviction under Code § 18.2-118 for failing to return rented property, and reinstated the conviction.

The Supreme Court of Virginia affirmed Sullivan's misdemeanor animal-cruelty conviction, holding that the evidence was sufficient for the trial court to find beyond a reasonable doubt that she deprived her horse of necessary emergency veterinary treatment.

The Supreme Court of Virginia affirmed the Court of Appeals' judgment upholding the denial of James Perry's motion to suppress and his conviction for possession of PCP. The court held that the right result for the wrong reason doctrine was properly applied because the record supported the Commonwealth's newly-advanced…

The Supreme Court of Virginia affirmed Cardell Lamont Avent's convictions for first-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, holding that his Arizona statements were voluntary, his Batson challenge failed for lack of pretext evidence, and the trial court properly excluded the victim's alleged…

The court affirmed Smallwood's conviction for possessing a firearm after a felony conviction, holding that the evidence sufficiently established constructive possession. Smallwood knew the firearm was present and understood its character, and its location in plain view beside his leg in a small vehicle supported an…

The court affirmed the convictions, holding that the trial court's finding that Grattan was competent to stand trial was supported by the evidence and was not plainly wrong. It also held that the trial court acted within its discretion under the governing statute by excluding Grattan's expert testimony on his sanity…

The Supreme Court of Virginia affirmed the Court of Appeals' judgment upholding Ricky C. Williams' bench-trial conviction for possession of methadone with intent to distribute. Applying the standard that a bench-trial judgment will not be disturbed unless plainly wrong or without evidence to support it, the court…

The Supreme Court of Virginia held that the Court of Appeals erred by treating Rule 5A:20(e)'s briefing requirements as jurisdictional and dismissing portions of the appeals for noncompliance.

The Supreme Court of Virginia held that the circumstantial evidence was insufficient as a matter of law to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Jayson Franklin Maxwell constructively possessed crack cocaine and marijuana found in and under stacks of plywood behind a Farmville shopping center, because the proof did not…

The Supreme Court of Virginia affirmed the Court of Appeals' judgment upholding all of Baraka Bolden's convictions, including possession of a firearm while in possession of cocaine and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

The Supreme Court of Virginia affirmed the judgment of the Court of Appeals upholding a three-year term of postrelease supervision imposed under Code § 19.2-295.2 in addition to a jury-recommended three-year active sentence for voluntary manslaughter.

The Supreme Court of Virginia held that the statutory "come and go" exemption from child-day-program licensure requires both a written policy and actual compliance with that policy.

The Court affirmed Juniper’s convictions and four death sentences, rejecting preserved challenges involving prosecutor disqualification, expert assistance, discovery, juror selection, evidentiary rulings, sufficiency of the evidence, and penalty-phase testimony.

The Supreme Court of Virginia affirmed the civil commitments of Rahmatollah Shivaee and Orlando Lawarren Butler under Virginia's Sexually Violent Predators Act (SVPA), holding that the Act satisfies substantive due process under the Fourteenth Amendment and the co-extensive due process protections of the Constitution…

The court affirmed Muhammad's convictions for two capital murders, conspiracy, firearm use, and the resulting death sentences. It held that the evidence supported treating Muhammad as an immediate perpetrator in the sniper-team murder of Dean Meyers and independently established that he directed or ordered the killing…

The Supreme Court of Virginia affirmed Charles Douglas Riner's convictions for first degree murder, arson, and petit larceny arising from a 1998 house fire that killed his wife Denise.

The Court held that an anonymous report that three men in a white Honda were disorderly and one had brandished a firearm, corroborated only by readily observable details, did not create reasonable suspicion for an investigative traffic stop.

The court affirmed dismissal of the constructive-fraud claim and the directed verdict on the breach-of-contract claim. It held that the plaintiffs’ constructive-fraud allegations sought recovery for purely economic losses arising from duties created solely by the alleged oral contract, and therefore were governed by…

On retrial after the Supreme Court of Virginia reversed his first capital murder conviction, Paul Warner Powell was convicted of the capital murder of Stacey Lynn Reed predicated on attempted rape and sentenced to death on findings of both future dangerousness and vileness.

The Supreme Court of Virginia reversed the Court of Appeals' unpublished decision that had overturned Louis Scott Hudson's jury convictions for the second-degree murder of his wife and use of a firearm, and reinstated the trial court's judgment.

The Supreme Court of Virginia reversed a jury award to Dominion Technology Partners against its former at-will employee, Donald Williams, on claims of breach of fiduciary duty, tortious interference with business relationships, and statutory business conspiracy under Code §§ 18.2-499 and 18.2-500.

In an interlocutory appeal under Code § 8.01-581.016(1), the Supreme Court of Virginia held that the operating agreement's arbitration clause — 'either Party may commence arbitration' — provides for mandatory arbitration once either party requests it, and it reversed the trial court's denial of TMDP's motion to compel…

The Court held that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by admitting the victim's statements expressing fear of Clay because those statements were relevant and probative of whether the killing was willful and deliberate.

The Supreme Court of Virginia held that a minority shareholder in a closely held corporation may not maintain individual claims against corporate officers or directors for injury to the corporation, declining to adopt a closely held corporation exception to the rule that breach-of-fiduciary-duty claims must be brought…

The Supreme Court of Virginia affirmed McCain's convictions for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm while possessing cocaine with intent to distribute.