Charles Douglas Riner v. Commonwealth of Virginia.

Summary

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 Riner waived his change-of-venue and double-hearsay challenges under Rule 5:25, that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying mistrial motions premised on a juror's third-party contact and other misconduct, in allowing a family-hired private prosecutor, or in admitting a pawn shop journal as a business record, and that conflicting expert testimony made the incendiary origin of the fire a jury question the evidence sufficed to support. It declined to abolish private prosecutors, leaving that policy change to the General Assembly. Justice Koontz, joined by Chief Justice Hassell and Justice Keenan, dissented, contending the double-hearsay objection was preserved under Code § 8.01-384 and that admitting the death-threat testimony was not harmless error requiring reversal of the murder and arson convictions.