COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA 

Present: Judges Bray, Overton and Senior Judge Duff 

Argued at Alexandria, Virginia 

ROBIN LYNN CAIN 

 MEMORANDUM OPINION* BY 

v. Record No. 2737-97-4 JUDGE RICHARD S. BRAY 

 SEPTEMBER 29, 1998 

COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA 

FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF SHENANDOAH COUNTY 

Perry W. Sarver, Judge Designate 

 David H. N. Bean for appellant. 

 Eugene Murphy, Assistant Attorney General 

(Mark L. Earley, Attorney General, on brief), 

for appellee. 

 Robin Lynn Cain (defendant) was convicted by a jury for 

felonious petit larceny pursuant to Code § 18.2-104. On appeal, 

defendant complains that the evidence failed to establish that 

all prior convictions necessary to the subject offense resulted 

from prosecutions during which she was assisted by counsel. 

Finding no error, we affirm the verdict. 

 The parties are fully conversant with the record, and this 

memorandum opinion recites only those facts necessary for 

disposition of the appeal. 

 During trial, the Commonwealth offered several exhibits to 

prove the requisite prior larceny convictions. Over defendant's 

objection, the court admitted into evidence a certified and 

authenticated copy of a "Warrant of Arrest," together with the 

 

 *Pursuant to Code § 17-116.010 this opinion is not 

designated for publication. 
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related order of the Fairfax County General District Court, which 

established a previous conviction of defendant for petit larceny 

in that jurisdiction. The preprinted form reflected a check mark 

at the words "Defendant's Attorney (Name)," without naming 

counsel, and illegible notations below "Attorney for the 

Accused." The order also assessed "Costs" of $100 for a "Court 

Appointed Attorney." Nevertheless, defendant contends that the 

exhibit failed to establish that she was represented by counsel 

in such prosecution, although she presented no evidence on the 

issue during the guilt phase of trial. 

 It is well established that, 

 "[a] previous misdemeanor conviction attended 

by incarceration is constitutionally 

offensive and may support neither guilt nor 

enhanced punishment for a later offense, 

unless the accused either waived or was 

represented by counsel in the earlier 

proceeding."1

 However, when . . . a prior 

conviction is collaterally attacked in a 

subsequent proceeding, "the Commonwealth is 

entitled to a presumption of regularity which 

attends the prior conviction because 'every 

act of a court of competent jurisdiction 

shall be presumed to have been rightly done, 

till the contrary appears[,]'" "'[e]ven when 

a collateral attack on a final conviction 

rests on constitutional grounds . . . .'" 

Thus, unless the defendant presents evidence 

rebutting the presumption of regularity, by 

which it may be presumed that the conviction 

was obtained in compliance with the 

defendant's right to counsel, the 

Commonwealth has satisfied its burden of 

proving that the prior conviction was valid 

and, therefore, was admissible to establish a 

third offense in order to enhance 

 1The briefs presuppose that incarceration attended the prior 

misdemeanor conviction, although the record is unclear. 
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punishment.2

Samuels v. Commonwealth, 27 Va. App. 119, 123-24, 497 S.E.2d 873, 

875 (1998) (citations omitted); see Harris v. Commonwealth, 26 

Va. App. 794, 803-04, 497 S.E.2d 165, 169-70 (1998); Nicely v. 

Commonwealth, 25 Va. App. 579, 583-84, 490 S.E.2d 281, 283 

(1997). 

 Here, the prior conviction in dispute was clearly clothed 

with the presumption of regularity, unrebutted by defendant 

during trial. Moreover, like Samuels, the instant record 

supports the trial court's implicit finding that defendant was 

actually represented by counsel in the earlier proceeding. Under 

such circumstances, the trial court properly received the exhibit 

into evidence. 

 Accordingly, we affirm the conviction. 

 Affirmed.

 

 2Defendant's testimony at the sentencing phase of trial was 

immaterial to the jury's previous finding of guilt. Tyler v. 

Commonwealth, 21 Va. App. 702, 709, 467 S.E.2d 294, 297 (1996).