Ramdass v. Angelone, 530 U.S. 156, 19 (2000)

Page:   Index   Previous  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  19  20  21  22  23  24  25  26  Next

174

RAMDASS v. ANGELONE

Opinion of Kennedy, J.

his Domino's crime. He calls the entry of judgment following a jury verdict a "ministerial act whose performance was foreseeable, imminent, and inexorable." Brief for Petitioner 21, 36. Petitioner cites no authority for the proposition that a judicial officer's determination that final judgment should be entered (as opposed to the clerk's noting of the final judgment in the record) is a ministerial act. We are not surprised. We doubt most lawyers would consider a criminal case concluded in the trial court before judgment is entered, for it is judgment which signals that the case has become final and is about to end or reach another stage of proceedings. See Va. Sup. Ct. Rule 1:1, 5A:6 (1999) (requiring notice of appeal to be filed "within 30 days after entry of final judgment").

Post-trial motions are an essential part of Virginia criminal law practice, as discussed in leading treatises such as J. Costello, Virginia Criminal Law and Procedure 829 (2d ed. 1995), and R. Bacigal, Virginia Criminal Procedure 337 (2d ed. 1989). Under Virginia Supreme Court Rule 3A:15(b) (1999), a verdict of guilty may be set aside "for error committed during the trial or if the evidence is insufficient as a matter of law to sustain a conviction." A few examples from the reports of Virginia decisions demonstrate it to be well-established procedure in Virginia for trial courts to consider and grant motions to set aside jury verdicts. E. g., Floyd v. Commonwealth, 219 Va. 575, 576-577, 249 S. E. 2d 171, 172 (1978); Payne v. Commonwealth, 220 Va. 601, 602-603, 260 S. E. 2d 247, 248 (1979); Johnson v. Commonwealth, 20 Va. App. 547, 553, 458 S. E. 2d 599, 601 (1995); Walker v. Commonwealth, 4 Va. App. 286, 291, 356 S. E. 2d 853, 856 (1987); Gorham v. Commonwealth, 15 Va. App. 673, 674, 426 S. E. 2d 493, 494 (1993); Carter v. Commonwealth, 10 Va. App. 507, 509, 393 S. E. 2d 639, 640 (1990); Cullen v. Commonwealth, 13 Va. App. 182, 184, 409 S. E. 2d 487, 488 (1991).

Page:   Index   Previous  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  19  20  21  22  23  24  25  26  Next

Last modified: October 4, 2007