Social Media Ideas for Albritton V. Commonwealth

Tort – Jury’s zero-damages verdict for inmate plaintiff affirmed

Where the jury found for the plaintiff on liability, but awarded no damages, its award was affirmed. The evidence was sufficient for the jury to conclude that he suffered no […] Th...

Criminal – Court refuses defendant’s motions to withdraw his guilty plea

After his Alford plea, the circuit court convicted Baltazar Albear Jr. of abduction by force or intimidation. Before sentencing, Albear twice moved to withdraw his guilty plea; the...

Criminal – Defendant convicted based upon Commonwealth witnesses’ testimony

Where the testimony of two Commonwealth witnesses was not inherently incredible and unworthy of belief, the defendant’s convictions for first-degree murder, attempted malicious wou...

Jury and jurors – Batson challenge fails

Where the defendant contended the Commonwealth struck approximately 50 percent of the Black jurors from the panel, and argued the Commonwealth did not provide a sufficient, neutral...

Criminal – Allen charge wasn’t abuse of discretion

Where the jury sent a note that they were deadlocked, and that they sought direction from the court on “[w]here” to “go from here,” the trial court did not abuse […] The post Crimi...

Criminal – Trial court lost jurisdiction to act on defendant’s motion

Where a man moved to have his state sentence suspended following his release from federal custody, but the circuit court did not issue a final judgment within 60 days from […] The...

Criminal – Firearm possession sentence was not substantively unreasonable

Where the district court sufficiently considered the defendant’s mitigation evidence, provided a sufficient explanation for its sentence and did not impose a substantively unreason...

Criminal – Correctional officer’s civil rights’ violation conviction is vacated

Where the trial court improperly instructed the jury on the government’s proximate cause burden when a defendant is charged with violating 18 U.S.C. § 242, which makes it illegal f...

Criminal – Court refuses to continue trial despite missing witness

Where a man convicted of aggravated malicious wounding and shooting or stabbing another in the commission of a felony argued the trial court erred by not continuing his trial, beca...

Kentucky AG urges appellate courts to uphold convictions in Crystal Rogers case

Attorney General Russell Coleman filed briefs in support of the "substantial proof" presented at both of the Lawson trials, saying the evidence provided more than enough proof of t...

Vermont Supreme Court shuts door on appeal to use police misconduct findings in murder defense

Criminal – Circuit court erred when it held statute was facially unconstitutional

Where the circuit court declined to address the defendant’s First Amendment overbreadth challenge to a criminal statute, and did not rule on whether the statute was unconstitutiona...

Habeas corpus – District court erred when it granted writ of habeas corpus

Where the district court granted a defendant’s writ of habeas corpus by accepting arguments already rejected by the state postconviction court, it erred. The state postconviction c...

Criminal – Man convicted of abusing two-year-old stepson

Where the evidence was sufficient to conclude the defendant physically abused the two-year-old child he was supposed to care for, his convictions for malicious wounding and child a...

Criminal – Defendant’s motion to suppress is denied

Defendant Peewee Carmelo Martinez’s motion to suppress evidence was denied by the WDVA court, citing sufficient nexus and the good-faith exception. The post Criminal – Defendant’s...

Criminal – Government can’t sandbag defendant during sentencing

Where the government initially argued the defendant’s four prior convictions qualified him for an enhanced sentence under the Armed Career Criminal Act, which requires three predic...

Criminal – Man convicted of grand larceny after stealing $26,000

Where the evidence supported the conclusion that the defendant stole $26,000 from another man’s vehicle, his grand larceny conviction was affirmed. Background The trial court convi...

Civil Rights – Officer prevails in fatal shooting suit

Where an officer fatally shot a man who repeatedly failed to obey commands while holding a weapon, his use of lethal force was objectively reasonable. The post Civil Rights – Offic...

Criminal – Writ of coram nobis denied

Where a man filed a writ of coram nobis eight years after obtaining the information upon which it relied, and he failed to identify errors at trial that rise to […] The post Crimin...

Criminal – Former chief of police convicted of sex trafficking of a minor

Where the defendant argued his attorney’s representation posed an unwaivable conflict, but his motion for a new trial was filed too late, and he repeatedly consented to the attorne...

Criminal – Defendant fails to show alleged sentencing error was plainly wrong

Where the defendant argued for the first time on appeal that his sentencing range was improperly calculated, because it assumed he was convicted under the Uniform Controlled Substa...

Criminal – Man convicted of murdering victim and concealing her body

Where a man was convicted of murdering the victim, concealing her body, robbery and abduction, and there was sufficient evidence to support these convictions, they were affirmed. B...

Courts Should Stop Discriminatory Virginia Policy

Defense attorney argues constitutional violation in Clark County murder case

Attorneys for a Clark County man charged with murder want the case against him dismissed, saying his constitutional rights were violated.