Court Opinion

ID: 9843938
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 02:52:39.592562+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:15:20.044246
License: Public Domain

BENTON, J.,
concurring.
As I have indicated on several occasions, the decision of the Supreme Court of Virginia in Coleman v. Commonwealth, 261 Va. 196, 200-01, 539 S.E.2d 732, 734 (2001), appears to be at variance with the United States Supreme Court’s Blockburger analysis in Whalen v. United States, 445 U.S. 684, 693-94, 100 S.Ct. 1432, 1438-39, 63 L.Ed.2d 715 (1980). See Logan v. Commonwealth, 43 Va.App. 504, 508, 600 S.E.2d 133, 135 *191(2004) (Benton, J., concurring); Ragsdale v. Commonwealth, 38 Va.App. 421, 430-32, 565 S.E.2d 331, 336-37 (2002) (Benton, J., concurring). Because I am bound by Coleman, I concur in the majority opinion’s holding that brandishing a firearm is not a lesser-included offense of the armed robbery for which Morris was indicted and convicted.
I concur in the holdings that the other offenses are not lesser-included offenses, and I concur in the remainder of the opinion. Therefore, I would also affirm the convictions.