In the Virginia Mercury today, Ned Oliver reports that Attorney General Jason Miyares wants 75 new positions to handle an "unexpected" upturn in criminal appeals to the Court of Appeals under the appeal of right law. Under the new law, the AG's office represents the...
Elwin Charles "Preacher" Roe was a baseball player from Ash Flat, Arkansas. His major league career spanned 16 years in the mid-20th century, excepting a few years in the middle when he served is the armed forces during the Second World War and, though he was a five...
The last two weeks have seen the Court of Appeals release four published decisions – two by opinion and two by order – that perhaps give a hint of things to come as the Court enters into its new era of hearing criminal appeals of right. All four cases were criminal...
Time for another rant. Yesterday, NASA announced that it was having to delay its first test mission for the planned return to the moon. On social media and news comment threads, the comments were mostly negative, with many calling for NASA to be defunded as a "waste...
In hopefully what is not a sign of things to come, the first month of the New Year passed without a single granted appeal from the Supreme Court of Virginia. This is not unusual. Last year the court did not grant an appeal until February 9, and that was the only...
Today’s lone published opinion from the Court of Appeals, Dwayne Allen Ray, Jr. v. Commonwealth of Virginia, has a certain dramatic “Law and Order” feel to it. It also calls to mind a tune by Queen that starts with an iconic bass line. Mostly, however, it evokes the...