COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA 

Present: Judges Baker, Annunziata and Senior Judge Hodges 

Argued at Norfolk, Virginia 

BENNIE WARD, JR. 

v. Record No. 1316-95-1 MEMORANDUM OPINION* BY 

 JUDGE ROSEMARIE ANNUNZIATA 

CITY OF VIRGINIA BEACH MAY 14, 1996 

 FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF VIRGINIA BEACH 

Alan E. Rosenblatt, Judge 

 A. Robinson Winn (Winn & Jankell, on brief), 

for appellant. 

 Nianza E. Wallace II, Assistant City Attorney 

(Richard J. Beaver, Assistant City Attorney; 

Office of the City Attorney, on brief), for 

appellee. 

 Appellant, Bennie Ward, Jr., was convicted in the general 

district court of one count of DUI, second offense. In circuit 

court, appellant pled guilty to a misdemeanor second offense DUI. 

 The court found appellant guilty and sentenced him to sixty days 

in jail with fifty-eight days suspended, suspended his license 

for three years, and fined him $350. On appeal, appellant 

contends the trial court erred in accepting his guilty plea 

because the court did not afford him the opportunity to waive his 

right to a jury trial. 

 A trial court's ruling will not be considered as a basis for 

reversal on appeal "unless the objection was stated together with 

the grounds therefor at the time of the ruling." Rule 5A:18. It 

 

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

designated for publication. 
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is well established that this Court will not consider an issue on 

appeal for which no "specific contemporaneous objection" was made

 at trial. E.g., Rodriguez v. Commonwealth, 18 Va. App. 277, 

284, 443 S.E.2d 419, 424 (1994) (en banc), aff'd, 249 Va. 203, 

454 S.E.2d 725 (1995). An objection is sufficient if a party 

"makes known to the court the action which he desires the court 

to take or his objections to the action of the court and his 

grounds therefor." Campbell v. Commonwealth, 12 Va. App. 476, 

480, 405 S.E.2d 1, 2 (1991) (en banc) (citation omitted). "A 

matter not in dispute before the trial court will not be 

considered for the first time on appeal." Connelly v. 

Commonwealth, 14 Va. App. 888, 891, 420 S.E.2d 244, 246 (1992). 

 On appeal, 

 the judgment of the lower court is presumed 

to be correct and the burden is on the 

appellant to present to [the reviewing court] 

a sufficient record from which [it] can 

determine whether the lower court has erred 

in the respect complained of. If the 

appellant fails to do this, the judgment will 

be affirmed. 

Smith v. Commonwealth, 16 Va. App. 630, 635, 432 S.E.2d 2, 6 

(1993) (quoting Justis v. Young, 202 Va. 631, 632, 119 S.E.2d 

255, 256-57 (1961)). An appellate court may act only on the 

facts contained in the record and "cannot base its decision upon 

appellant's petition or brief, or statement of counsel in open 

court." Id. 

 Here, the record shows merely that appellant appeared before 

the court, in person, and by counsel, that he pled guilty, was 
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found guilty by the court, and was sentenced accordingly. The 

record does not disclose that appellant objected to the court's 

acceptance of his plea without giving him the opportunity to 

waive his right to a jury trial. Moreover, assuming, without 

deciding, that the court was required to afford appellant the 

opportunity to waive his right to trial by jury before accepting 

his plea, the record appellant presents is insufficient to 

establish that the trial court failed to do so. 

 Accordingly, appellant's conviction is affirmed. 

Affirmed.