Does a citizen of another country need to have a Virginia License? Under § 46.2-308, a new resident of Virginia has a six (6) month window within which she is required to get a Virginian license.If she doesn't she can be charged with driving without a license (§ 46.2-300) and face up to twelve (12) months in jail. But, of course, not everybody who drives into Virginia intends to stay here permanently. In my part of the Commonwealth it is rather common for people from Tennessee or Kentucky to drive thru Virginia to get to the other state. People also come into Virginia for vacations or to shop ..read more

 "Rule 1:1 does not require incantation; it requires specificity."  Rule 1.1 of the Supreme Court of Virginia is that the Final Order of a trial is final after 21 days. And we mean final. We really mean it. For real.  In Russell v. Commonwealth, DEC24, VaApp no. 0822-22-2, the trial court entered a Final Order and within 21 days it entered a stay of execution. The Court of Appeals said that's about when the sentence starts being served, not whether the sentence is final. The trial court did not state it was maintaining jurisdiction over the imposition of the sentence within 21 d ..read more

 I'm breaking down the published cases in Virginia from March thru now (I do this every year) and I ran across Tomlin v. Commonwealth. The issue in Tomlin is whether bedsores from some fairly nasty abuse of an incapacitated adult qualify under the statute under the following definition:  "Serious bodily injury or disease" includes but is not limited to (i) disfigurement, (ii) a fracture, (iii) a severe burn or laceration, (iv) mutilation, (v) maiming, or (vi) life-threatening internal injuries or conditions, whether or not caused by trauma.  § 18.2-369(C)  The proper answer ..read more

Trying to catch up on cases I haven't read yet and ran across U.S. v. Reed which is your (sadly) fairly typical case where some yahoo files liens on everybody who has irked him. The interesting part wasn't that. The interesting part was reading that the IRS has a Frivolous Return Unit. You have to wonder what sort of silliness these folks deal with every day. Do you think they have different sections? The biggest would have to be sovran citizens. What else do you figure they face? People who are getting instructions from space aliens or ghosts?  Equiring minds want to know. . Posted Or ..read more

    For a fairly simple concept (play stupid games win stupid prizes), contempt of court has been subject to all sorts of legislation and case law trying to define the parameters of this judicial power. What can be punished? What process is needed for punishment? How much punishment can be meted out? These questions come up more than you'd think as people find varied and imaginative ways to run afoul of the judge and court. RULE: 6 months is the maximum punishment for contempt without a jury. The place to begin this discussion is in the United States Supreme Court. In 1970, that cour ..read more

My highlights of the last year's criminal law cases out of Virginia (year ending 01 March 2023). The entire breakdown of the law can be found at my website under the CaseLaw Breakdown folder. . Posted Originally at CrimLaw - http://crimlaw.blogspot.com ..read more

My highlights of the last year of Virginian criminal case law. (Year ending 01 March 2023) . Posted Originally at CrimLaw - http://crimlaw.blogspot.com ..read more

 I was looking at CLE's and the next button over was available positions, so I meandered over to have a look. Lots of offices are hiring and it looks like several must have had some sort of mass exodus.  Of note: 1.  Several are still starting their sales pitch at the very beginning by telling the potential applicant that they can fire him/her anytime they want to (because that always indicates a healthy office atmosphere). 2.  At least one (Halifax) is offering a signing bonus (gotta admit that would have been pretty sweet when I moved from Midlothian to Wise 17 years ago ..read more

I am breaking down last month's cases from the Courts Appellate Virginian and I trip over Artis v. Commonwealth, JAN23, VaApp no. 1407-21-1.  There are two issues in the case. The first is about abatement and Judge Dominique A. Callins handles that one with a well reasoned and if anything too thorough explanation. Then she dealt with a second issue which boiled down to "if proof of a prior conviction makes a crime aggravated (carrying a greater punishment), does the proof have to be proven in front of the jury or can it simply be introduced to the judge at sentencing?" In the fact patte ..read more

A lecturer at the CLE I'm currently attending asked whether Virginia has the "lustful disposition" evidence rule allowing unadjudicated sexual acts to be introduced against a defendant charged with a child sex abuse case. Nobody in the room knew the answer so I thought I'd check. Yes. Virginia has this rule. The federal government and many States adopted a specific rule of evidence setting out this rule [Rule 414] starting in 1994. However, at that time Virginia did not have codified rules of evidence and did not adopt them until 01 June 2012. When it did so it did not adopt the federal rules ..read more