Present: All the Justices 

COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA 

 OPINION BY JUSTICE LEROY R. HASSELL, SR. 

v. Record No. 980325 November 6, 1998 

WILLIAM ALAN PRESLEY 

FROM THE COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA 

 In this appeal, we consider whether the evidence was 

sufficient to support the defendant's conviction for voluntary 

manslaughter. 

 Tried in Loudoun County by a jury and convicted of 

voluntary manslaughter, William Alan Presley was sentenced to 

one year and six months imprisonment. Presley appealed his 

conviction to the Court of Appeals. He asserted that the 

evidence was insufficient to support his conviction because 

the Commonwealth purportedly failed to prove that he killed 

the victim, Sandra D. Laing. The Court of Appeals, in an 

unpublished opinion, agreed with the defendant, reversed the 

judgment of the trial court, and set aside the conviction. 

Presley v. Commonwealth, Record No. 2265-96-4 (January 20, 

1998). We awarded the Commonwealth an appeal. 

 We have enunciated the following principles of appellate 

review which are pertinent here. When a defendant challenges 

on appeal the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain his 

conviction, it is the duty of an appellate court to examine 

the evidence that tends to support the conviction and to 
permit the conviction to stand unless the conviction is 

plainly wrong or without evidentiary support. Commonwealth v. 

Jenkins, 255 Va. 516, 520, 499 S.E.2d 263, 265 (1998); Tyler

v. Commonwealth, 254 Va. 162, 165-66, 487 S.E.2d 221, 223 

(1997). If there is evidence to support the conviction, an 

appellate court is not permitted to substitute its own 

judgment for that of the finder of fact, even if the appellate 

court might have reached a different conclusion. Jenkins, 255 

Va. at 520, 499 S.E.2d at 265; Tyler, 254 Va. at 165-66, 487 

S.E.2d at 223; Cable v. Commonwealth, 243 Va. 236, 239, 415 

S.E.2d 218, 220 (1992). 

 Additionally, upon appellate review, the evidence and all 

inferences reasonably deducible therefrom must be examined in 

the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, the prevailing 

party in the trial court. Any evidence properly admitted at 

trial is subject to this review. Jenkins, 255 Va. at 521, 499 

S.E.2d at 265. 

 The following facts are relevant to our disposition of 

this appeal. Presley, Laing, and William P. Rossbach resided 

together in a house in Loudoun County. Each of the occupants 

used a separate bedroom. Presley and Laing were described as 

"boyfriend" and "girlfriend," and they had a sexual 

relationship. 

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 On July 31, 1995, about 4:30 p.m., Rossbach drove Laing 

in his car to visit a physician. Laing had complained of 

having "the flu or something" and feeling "really sick." 

Laing and Rossbach returned from the doctor's office between 

5:30 and 6:00 p.m. 

 Earlier that day, before Rossbach took Laing to the 

doctor's office, she stumbled and hit her head on a doorknob. 

In response to Rossbach's question "[a]re you all right up 

there?", Laing said, "Yeah. I just kind of slipped." 

 About midnight on July 31, 1995, Sandra Everhart arrived 

at the house. She went to Rossbach's bedroom, removed her 

clothing, and attempted to have sexual intercourse with him. 

Rossbach, who had "too much to drink," was unable to have 

sexual relations with Everhart. Presley entered Rossbach's 

room and told Everhart, in Rossbach's presence, that Presley 

wanted to have sexual intercourse with her. Presley and 

Rossbach began to argue, and Laing, who had heard the 

conversation, appeared at the door to the room. 

 Laing was upset, and she told Presley to leave the room. 

She also directed Everhart to leave. Rossbach, in an effort 

to humiliate Presley, told Laing that he had not forgotten 

about a sexual affair that Laing had with a man named Tom. 

Presley had not known about this relationship. Laing denied 

the relationship, but Presley became enraged. 

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 Sometime between midnight and 1:00 a.m., after Everhart 

left the house, Rossbach heard "banging and stuff going on." 

Presley and Laing were in her bedroom arguing about the affair 

she purportedly had with Tom. Rossbach entered the bedroom, 

told Presley and Laing to "[c]ut it out," and went downstairs 

to the kitchen. While he was in the kitchen, Rossbach heard 

"a bunch of yelling," and he heard Laing say, "[p]lease don't 

hit me." 

 While Rossbach was walking up the stairs to return to his 

room, he heard Presley call Laing a "fucking bitch." Rossbach 

went to Laing's bedroom. She was on the floor naked, and 

Presley had "his hand around her throat." Rossbach said, 

"[w]hat the hell?" Presley, who was choking her, stopped. 

Presley "was pretty much just kind of yelling in grief, and 

[he] let [Laing] go as soon as [Rossbach] said 'what the hell 

is going on?'" Presley stated, "[s]orry, God. I really 

messed up." After Rossbach saw Presley with his hand around 

Laing's neck, she did not move. Later, when Rossbach entered 

Laing's room, he observed that she was clothed, lying on her 

bed, snoring. 

 Alvin D. Blankenship, a Virginia State Trooper, spoke 

with Presley by telephone sometime between midnight and 2:00 

a.m. on August 1, 1995. Presley told Blankenship that Presley 

wanted the State Police to remove Laing from his house because 

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she "was a whore" and was "using drugs." Presley also stated 

that "sometimes he [got] so mad that he just [felt] like 

knocking [Laing] in the head." Blankenship warned Presley 

that if he committed any acts of violence, he would be 

arrested. Presley responded that the Loudoun County Police 

always arrested him when the police officers went to his home. 

 About 1:46 a.m. on August 1, 1995, Sergeant Eric Noble, a 

deputy sheriff with the Loudoun County Sheriff's Department, 

responded to a call from the defendant's home regarding an 

unconscious female. Sergeant Noble arrived at the house, 

Presley met him at the front door, and permitted him to enter. 

When Sergeant Noble entered Laing's bedroom, she was lying on 

the floor, her breathing was extremely "ragged and labored, 

and [she] appeared to be in [a] very serious condition." 

 After Sergeant Noble used his radio to request medical 

help, he asked Presley what had happened. Presley stated that 

"he beat the hell out of her on the floor, that he had hit her 

with the chair." Sergeant Noble saw pieces of a broken chair 

above the victim's head. He also observed a large tear on the 

right side of her shorts, a small amount of blood on the 

victim's left thigh, and small spots of blood on the carpet 

adjacent to her body. 

 Another deputy sheriff, Clete Kresge, arrived at 

Presley's residence. Presley stated to Deputy Kresge twice, 

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"I'll admit I did hit her tonight." Presley also told Deputy 

Kresge later that morning, "[s]he had pissed me off tonight 

. . . I tore her to shreds." Kresge observed that the 

victim's blouse was torn, and her eye was discolored. 

 Everhart testified at trial that she did not notice any 

bruises or physical marks on the victim's face when she had 

been at Presley's house on July 31. Rossbach also testified 

that Laing's eye was not discolored, and she did not have 

bruises on her body before her altercation with the defendant. 

 Laing was transported to the Loudoun Hospital Center 

where she died at 4:14 a.m. Dr. Frances P. Field, an 

assistant chief medical examiner for the Northern Virginia 

District Medical Examiner's Office, performed an autopsy on 

Laing's body. Field observed that Laing's body had a bruise 

on the right eye and a small reddish abrasion or scrape mark 

on the left forehead. Her tongue was bruised, and numerous 

bruises were found on Laing's legs, back, arms, and elbow. 

 Dr. Field determined that Laing had a large subdural 

hematoma on the left side and top of her head. A subdural 

hematoma is an accumulation of blood between the covering and 

surface of the brain. Dr. Field performed a microscopic 

examination on blood taken from Laing's subdural hematoma. 

The absence of inflammatory cells on the dura indicated to Dr. 

Field that the hemorrhage was the result of "very recent 

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bleeding in the head, within several hours of death, or 

minutes . . . ." Dr. Field conducted a microscopic 

examination of the tissue around the victim's eye, and she 

concluded that the presence of intact red cells and a small 

infiltration of white blood cells or inflammatory cells 

indicated that this injury occurred within four hours of 

death. Dr. Field testified that the bruise on the back of the 

victim's left thigh and left elbow were received within 

several hours before death. 

 Dr. Field opined within a reasonable degree of medical 

certainty that the victim's subdural hematoma was caused by 

blunt force trauma. Dr. Field stated that the victim's 

history of chronic alcohol abuse, her extensive use of 

prescription drugs, the victim's malformed brainstem, and the 

curvature of her spine did not contribute to her death. Dr. 

Field testified that the victim's fall, which occurred before 

4:30 p.m. on July 31, 1995, did not contribute to her death. 

 Presley adduced evidence at trial that the victim's death 

was attributable to causes other than his acts. Several 

factual witnesses testified that the victim had poor motor 

skills, that she fell frequently, and that she had bruises on 

her legs. Nicholas T. Lappas, who qualified as an expert 

witness on the subjects of toxicology and pharmacology, 

testified that in his opinion, Laing's death was consistent 

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with a drug overdose caused by the prescription medication 

that she had ingested. Dr. John E. Adams, a forensic 

pathologist, testified that Laing's death was related to a 

congenital deformity of her spine and skull combined with her 

chronic liver disease. Dr. Adams also opined that the cause 

of Laing's death was a "head injury with subdural hematoma, 

combined with drugs and alcohol." Dr. John H. Lossing, a 

neurologist, testified that Laing died of suffocation because 

the "doctors in the emergency room were unable to successfully 

intubate her." Finally, during the defendant's crossexamination of Dr. Field, she testified that the subdural 

hematoma occurred within 24 hours of the victim's death. 

 The Commonwealth must prove, as an essential element of 

its case, that the victim's death resulted from the criminal 

agency of the defendant. Opanowich v. Commonwealth, 196 Va. 

342, 355, 83 S.E.2d 432, 439-40 (1954). We stated in Bowie v. 

Commonwealth, 184 Va. 381, 390, 35 S.E.2d 345, 348 (1945), 

that "[d]eath must be proved either by direct testimony or by 

presumptive evidence of the strongest kind; but the existence 

of the criminal agency as the cause of the death and the 

identity of the agency may be established by circumstantial 

evidence." 

 We hold that there is sufficient evidence of record which 

would have permitted the jury to find beyond a reasonable 

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doubt that Presley's acts caused Laing's death. The jury, 

which considered all the evidence, was entitled to find that 

Presley hit Laing with a blunt object and that the resulting 

trauma produced the large subdural hematoma which caused her 

death. Field's medical testimony, the substantial physical 

evidence, and Presley's admissions that "he beat the hell out 

of [Laing] on the floor" and that he had "tor[n] [Laing] to 

shreds" are facts which would support the jury's finding that 

Presley's acts caused the victim's death. 

 We do recognize that the defendant presented evidence 

that the victim's death may have been attributable to other 

causes. However, it is the province of the jury, rather than 

an appellate court, to weigh the facts and to judge the 

credibility of the various lay and expert witnesses. 

 For these reasons, we will reverse the judgment of the 

Court of Appeals, and we will reinstate Presley's conviction 

in accordance with the trial court's judgment order. 

Reversed and final judgment. 

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