Opinion ID: 1058514
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: James v. Commonwealth Relevant Facts

Text: As previously stated, James was convicted of attempted robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, and attempted use of a firearm during the commission of attempted robbery. On appeal to this Court, he challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the convictions. In light of our remand of his conspiracy conviction to the Court of Appeals, only the issue relating to the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the other two convictions remains before us. The facts adduced at trial, viewed in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth as the prevailing party in the trial court, see Commonwealth v. Hudson, 265 Va. 505, 514, 578 S.E.2d 781, 786 (2003), show that this case arose out of a failed undercover narcotics purchase in which James purportedly intended to rob the supposed buyer instead of selling contraband. Riya N. Sloan, an undercover narcotics detective with the City of Virginia Beach Police Department, testified about her arrangements, made via three telephone calls to an individual known only at that time as Diz, to meet at a particular retail store located in the City of Virginia Beach for the purpose of purchasing 1/2 pound of marijuana for the price of $950. Diz was later identified as James. [4] When James arrived at the meeting site, he parked his vehicle in the third space over from the passenger side of Sloan's unmarked vehicle. Sloan rolled down the passenger-side window and waved for James to come over to her vehicle. James refused and indicated that he wanted Sloan to come up to his vehicle. According to Sloan, they went back and forth a few times about which one of them was going to get out of his or her respective vehicle. Finally, Sloan decided to approach James' vehicle and asked to see the marijuana. James, however, wanted Sloan first to get into his vehicle. Sloan testified at trial about the ensuing events: I asked him to see the marijuana that he was supposed to bring. He told me to get in the car. I indicated that I was not going to get in the car. He started indicating more forcibly, Just get in the car. You know, Things are hot. And I said, I'm not getting in the car. I don't know you. You don't know me. You're making me nervous. Just show me the product. I'll give you the money, and I'll get out of here. He continued on and on and on that he wasn't going tohe wasn't going to go and show it to [me] and he wasn't going to give it to me unless I got in the car. I continuously asked himI told him that I was nervous, that I was scared. I wasn't going to get in the car, that I wasn't stupid, you know, I was a female. And I said, you know, It's just the two of us. Just give me the product, and I'll be gone. He said that he wouldn't. At that time I went over to the passenger side of the vehicle. I opened the passenger door and wound down the passenger window so I can put a little distance in between the two of us to talk to him. He kept indicating that he wanted me to get in the vehicle. I kept telling him that I wasn't. All I wanted to do was see the marijuana and give him the money and leave. And at that time the rest of the members of the special investigations came up and placed him under arrest. When Jesus Averilla, a narcotics investigator with the City of Virginia Beach Police Department, was placing James on the ground in order to handcuff him, a handgun slipped out from under James' waist belt. [5] The handgun did not have a magazine in it. Another police officer working as part of the arrest team searched James' vehicle and discovered an individual lying underneath a pile of clothes in the cargo area of James' sports utility vehicle. [6] The individual, who was identified as Joshua Mitchell, told the detective he was trying to sleep. The detective also found a magazine containing bullets underneath Mitchell's body. The magazine fit the handgun that Detective Averilla had recovered. No marijuana or other narcotics were found in James' vehicle or on his person. Johnathan Grover, another narcotics detective with the City of Virginia Beach Police Department who participated in James' arrest, testified about his interview of James after James was transported to police headquarters. Upon reading James his Miranda rights, Detective Grover informed James that Sloan, the woman with whom he had been dealing, was a police officer. James advised Grover that he understood his Miranda rights and that he did not sell weed and did not have any. During further questioning, James said, I was going to take her money and then tell her to get out. James told Detective Grover that he was going to give Detective Sloan a bag (even though no bag was found in James' vehicle), and insisted that he was not going to apply any force in order to obtain the money. When asked why Mitchell was hiding in the cargo area of the vehicle, James responded, [w]ell, she was going to see two dudes and be scared and she thought that [I] had some weed. According to Detective Grover, James admitted that the game plan was to scare Detective Sloan, and if he got the money, Mitchell was to stay hidden, but, if James did not get the money, Mitchell was to scare Detective Sloan. To explain why he brought a gun if he was just planning to meet a girl by herself and had no weed to sell, James responded, [y]ou got to be safe. At one point during the interview, James admitted that the plan was to show the handgun but not to use it. He then recanted, stating that he did not intend to display the firearm. James also testified at trial. He denied having any discussions with Mitchell about what was going to occur when James went to the retail store supposedly to sell marijuana, but he admitted that he told Detective Grover that he (James) assumed Mitchell thought James was going to show the firearm and that Mitchell would jump out if something went wrong during the meeting. James also acknowledged that Mitchell was in the room when he was talking with Detective Sloan on the telephone to set up the marijuana buy and that Mitchell knew, however, that James did not have any marijuana. In James' words, I had no type of discussion with [Mitchell], but I assume that he knew fully what was going on. On cross-examination, James admitted the details of his plan to rob Detective Sloan. He acknowledged that he arranged to meet Detective Sloan for the purported purpose of selling her 1/2 pound of marijuana and that he instructed her to bring $950. James further admitted that he lied to Detective Sloan about having marijuana to sell and that his intention all along was to rob her. James also testified during cross-examination that, while en route to the arranged meeting location, he told Mitchell to hide in the back of the vehicle. When asked if he assumed Mitchell would jump out if Detective Sloan was not cooperative, James said: Assumed. I thought. I'm not saying that he would. Finally, James acknowledged that the handgun was initially loaded but that he removed the magazine on the way to the meeting and threw it to his partner in the back of the vehicle. The trial court denied James' motions to strike the Commonwealth's evidence both at the close of the Commonwealth's case in chief and at the close of all the evidence and found James guilty of all charges. On appeal to the Court of Appeals, James challenged the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain each of his convictions. In a per curiam order, the Court of Appeals concluded that the evidence was competent, not inherently incredible and sufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that James attempted to rob Detective Sloan by force and attempted to use a firearm while attempting to commit robbery. James, slip op. at 3-4 (March 21, 2007). A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals affirmed that judgment in its entirety. James, slip op. at 1 (July 5, 2007).