Court Opinion

ID: 9592692
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 00:16:19.332041+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:01:17.286875
License: Public Domain

Benton, J.,
dissenting.
The trial judge considered Thomas’s acquittal to be an adverse contact with the criminal justice system for purposes of sentencing and, thus, an incident “of the accused’s criminal record.” Nothing in Code § 19.2-299(A) permits a Virginia trial judge at sentencing to consider a defendant’s trial and acquittal in a criminal case. Decisions of federal courts and courts of other states are irrelevant to the question whether Code § 19.2-299(A) permits a Virginia judge to consider an acquittal on a criminal charge as a negative indication of character because it establishes that the defendant has had contact with the criminal justice system. I find no basis to conclude that under Code § 19.2-299(A) the fact of an acquittal may be considered as a part of a presentence report.
Recently, in a case arising from a sentencing in this same trial court, this Court rejected the Commonwealth’s argument that the trial judge may consider at the sentencing phase improper information. See Craddock v. Commonwealth, 16 Va. App. 402, 429 S.E.2d 889 (1993). There, we reversed the sentence and remanded the case for resentencing. Id. at 407, 429 S.E.2d at 892.
*662I would reverse the sentencing order and remand this case for resentencing on a probation report that excludes from the “criminal record” references to the fact of acquittal and references to cases that indicate “no disposition located.” For these reasons, I dissent.