Justia Criminal Law Opinion Summaries

David McNeal was convicted in a bench trial in the circuit court for failing to return rented personal property within ten days after expiration of the rental period in violation of Va. Code Ann. 18.2-118. At trial, the store manager of the rental business testified that she rented an aluminum brake to McNeal on September 18, 2008, and after two or three months elapsed without McNeal returning the brake, she contacted the sheriff's office. On cross-examination, the store manager testified that the deputy returned the brake on September 19, 2008. The circuit court concluded that, considering all the evidence, the equipment was gone for two or three months on a week's rental, and thus the evidence was sufficient for a finding of guilt. The court of appeals reversed, concluding that the conflicting evidence was insufficient as a matter of law to sustain McNeal's conviction. The Supreme Court reversed and reinstated McNeal's conviction, holding that the circuit court's judgment finding McNeal guilty was not plainly wrong or without evidence to support it. The Court concluded that the circuit court was entitled to consider all the evidence and to resolve the conflict in the evidence as it did.

Police officers asked D'Angelo Brooks for permission to search his house for a weapon after someone reported shots fired. Brooks consented. During the search an officer opened a bag, in which he found cash and cocaine. The officer then asked Brooks if this was his cash and drugs, to which Brooks responded affirmatively. Prior to trial Brooks moved to suppress the cocaine as being beyond the scope of his consent to search and his statement as being fruit of the poisonous tree. The court denied the motion to suppress and found Brooks guilty of possession of cocaine. The court of appeals denied Brooks' petition for appeal. The Supreme Court held (1) the appellate court did not err when it upheld the denial of the motion to suppress the cocaine and Brooks' statement to the officer afterwards because the search of the bag was objectively reasonable and thus permissible under the Fourth Amendment; and (2) Brooks' statement was not obtained in violation of his Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights because a reasonable person in Brooks situation would not have believed he was in custody, and therefore no Miranda warning was needed.