Court Opinion

ID: 9526027
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:10:26.538944+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:18:12.737180
License: Public Domain

KOONTZ, Judge,
with whom BENTON and ELDER, JJ., join, dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. The essential facts are not in dispute. Although Officer Dickerson initially was unable to see the weapon in Main’s pocket “because of the bag over his right side,” the officer instantly saw and recognized the weapon as soon as he turned Main so that the right side of Main’s body was facing him. These facts do not support a conclusion that the weapon was “hidden from common observation” as that phrase is used in Code § 18.2-308.
Accordingly, and for the reasons more fully stated in the majority opinion in Main v. Commonwealth, 19 Va.App. 272, 450 S.E.2d 772 (1994), I would reverse Main’s conviction.