Practice Areas

Blog

Firm News

Felony (Larceny /Malicious wounding)

• Malicious Wounding Charge Upgraded to Homicide When Victim Dies
  Sep 15, 2011

  A Radford University student from Chesterfield County, Virginia faces a murder charge in a late-night assault last month in downtown Radford.

  Eric S. Czajkowski, 24, a senior majoring in business management, was arrested Friday at his Chesterfield home after a Radford grand jury indicted him on a single count of second-degree murder. He is accused of killing Michael Allen Duncan, 39, during an Aug. 19 encounter, said Radford police Lt. Andy Wilburn.

  According to police, Czajkowski was talking with two or three other people on a sidewalk in downtown Radford when Duncan came up to them and made a remark that apparently offended Czajkowski.

  "We don't know whether the victim was talking to (Czajkowski) or the other folks that he was standing beside," Wilburn said.

  Czajkowski then struck Duncan with his hands or fists, Wilburn said, causing Duncan to fall to the sidewalk and strike his head. Duncan died three days later at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital of a severe wound to the back of his head, Wilburn said.

  The injury occurred "when he landed and his head hit the sidewalk," Wilburn said.

  Duncan's official cause and manner of death are still pending, a spokeswoman for the state Medical Examiner's Office in Roanoke said.

  The assault occurred about 11:45 p.m. in the 1400 block of East Main Street in an "area where there are a couple of drinking establishments," Wilburn said. Investigators aren't certain whether Czajkowski had been drinking that night, he added.

  Wilburn said there's no indication that Czajkowski and the victim knew each other.

  Czajkowski was initially charged with aggravated malicious wounding.

  Online court records show that Czajkowski was charged earlier this year with a similar offense. He was arrested Jan. 23 on a malicious-wounding charge that was later reduced to misdemeanor assault and battery and eventually dismissed on April 14, records show.

   

   

• Security Guard Gets 50 Years for Shooting Wife
  Sep 15, 2011

  Damond J. Austin cursed and wept as he told a Henrico County detective that he'd been driven to a point of rage when he learned that his wife of 14 years had been cheating on him. He shot her at point-blank range in the left temple.

  Henrico Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Frank LaRuffa argued that Austin, 33, had carried out a reign of terror and domestic abuse within the family for years, even as he regularly worked and provided for the family.

  The culminating act of abuse came on that February night, LaRuffa said, when Austin attacked his wife as she held the couple's infant daughter and then fired a round from a .40-caliber handgun into the woman's head.

  Starshema Austin, could not bring herself to speak of the tragedy Wednesday. The bullet is dangerously lodged in her throat, and she suffers from severe sensory loss in her eyes and ears. Much of the left side of her face is the product of reconstructive surgery.

  In May, Austin pleaded guilty to aggravated malicious wounding and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. He faced up to life behind bars.

  Henrico Circuit Judge L.A. Harris Jr. ordered Austin to prison for 50 years: 70 years with 23 years suspended for the shooting and three years for use of the firearm.

   

   

• Henrico Virginia Woman Gets 22 Years for Murdering Tenant
  Sep 15, 2011

  Felicia M. Grahn lost a bid September 14th for a mistrial in her murder case and will go to prison for 22 years in the shooting death last year of the mother of six children.

  Grahn, 40, lived with her husband in the 3900 block of Genacre Lane in Henrico County off Laburnum Avenue. She told a jury in May that she was attacked in August 2010 by 34-year-old Dollie Blow, who rented a shed in the Grahns' backyard but was being evicted for nonpayment.

  A jury found Grahn guilty of second-degree murder and two firearms charges, recommending a sentence of 22 years. Judge Gary Hicks sentenced Grahn to the 22 years in prison recommended by the jury.

  Grahn apologized for her actions and said she had never meant to kill Blow. Grahn had testified that Blow jumped on her back when Grahn came to the shed to investigate Blow's report of a fire.

  When police arrived, Grahn said she had shot Blow and turned over a 9 mm semiautomatic pistol that she later testified she'd never before used. Investigators found Blow dead in the bathroom and discovered that two grandchildren she had been babysitting witnessed Blow's death.

• Federal Court Jury Convicts Two in Failed Hold-Up
  Sep 15, 2011

  Two men were convicted today in Richmond federal court for a violent attempted robbery at a Caroline County truck stop that left a good Samaritan with multiple gunshot wounds.

  A U.S. District Court jury deliberated about three hours before returning early that afternoon with guilty verdicts against Winston Sylvester Oliver II and Warren Harold "Fleet" Brown on all eight charges they faced in a trial that began Monday. Judge James R. Spencer could sentence the two Richmond-area residents to up to life in prison for their convictions on federal firearm, conspiracy and attempt-to-commit-robbery charges.

  Authorities said Oliver was the getaway driver and Brown the trigger man in a failed attempt to rob the Mr. Fuel Truck Plaza off Interstate 95 in Caroline County's Ruther Glen area on May 8, 2010, about 9:30 p.m.

  Store security video of the robbery try was widely disseminated on the Internet and showed Theodore Donald Edmund Jr., a U.S. Marine Corps and Vietnam War veteran, trying to stop the robber by smashing a beer bottle on his head. Edmund, who was shot in the head, shoulder, groin and buttocks but recovered from his injuries, testified Monday.

  Danielle Oliver, Winston Oliver's estranged wife, testified Tuesday that she unwittingly gave her husband information that would lead him to plan the robbery after she got a job as a cashier at the truck plaza in November 2008. She said her husband was especially interested in finding out that the cash registers at Mr. Fuel were not routinely cleared out at regular intervals, resulting in several thousand dollars accumulating in relatively short order.

  Over the next several years, Danielle Oliver testified, her husband became fixated on trying to rob the truck plaza.

   

• Virginia Criminal Defense Lawyer | Federal Courts | Barefoot Bandit Pleads Guilty
  Sep 07, 2011

• Manassas Man Dies After Being Hit by Stun Gun: Police Under Investigation
  Aug 07, 2011

  According to an AP report, an 29-year old Virginian died after being hit by a police "stun gun" as police were trying to take him into custody.
  
  Prince William County Police say the man died at a hospital after officers used a stun gun to try to subdue him.

  The department says in a news release that 29-year-old Debro Lamonte Wilkerson of Manassas, Va., was combative while fire officials tried to treat him. Officers then used the stun gun as they tried to take him into custody.

  It was not immediately clear what Wilkerson was being treated for. Officials are investigating how he died, and it is unclear whether the stun gun was directly related to Wilkerson's death.

  Police are conducting a criminal and internal investigation into the incident.

• Virginia Boy Charged With Malicious Wounding
  Jul 20, 2011

• Two Young Men Sentenced in VA Federal Court on Racketeering Charges
  Nov 11, 2010

  Two Portsmouth men were sentenced in Norfolk federal court for racketeering on Wednesday, November 10th. They were both juveniles at the time the crimes occurred. 
  
  James Martin Harris,22, and Arous John Phillips,23 received lengthy prison sentences of 40 years and more.

  Harris was sentenced to 40 years in prison for racketeering acts including murder.

  Phillips was sentenced to 42 years.

  Court documents say Phillips and Harris murdered Darius Powell on August 25, 2006. Phillips was later involved in the attempted murder of a witness in the case according to federal prosectuors release.
  

• Virginia Man Charged in Rape of 9 Year Old Boy
  Nov 11, 2010

  A 32-year-old Newport News man has been arrested on charges related to the sexual assault of a child last month in James City County.

  Kristopher Ryan Hare, of the 600 block of Kelso Drive in Newport News has been charged with aggravated sexual assault of a victim younger than 13 and animate object sexual penetration, both felonies, according to Maj. Steve Rubino, a James City police spokesman.

  On Oct. 28, Rubino said Hare was staying at a friend's trailer in Heritage Trailer Park in the 8800 block of Pocahontas Trail in James City. The friend's 9-year-old son was woken in the early morning to a man sexually assaulting him, Rubino said.

  The boy told his mother and her boyfriend, who punched Hare in the face after hearing about the incident, Rubino said. Hare then fled the scene before officers arrived, Rubino said.

  If convicted of the charges, Hare faces a potential prison sentence ranging from 25 years to life.

• Former Henrico County Coach Sentenced in Sex Abuse Case
  Feb 21, 2010

  Former J.R. Tucker High School football coach William Macgregor "Mac" Leighton was sentenced by an Henrico County Circuit Judge to prison in connection with his prior guilty pleas to sexual conduct of two female students who were 15 and 17 years old at the time.

  Leighton's conduct may have been "an extraordinary aberration," his past "impeccable," and like all teachers and coaches he may have been "overworked and underpaid," said Circuit Judge L.A. Harris Jr. But Leighton's role as a teacher and coach meant he "shared a special trust."

  "What we have in this case is a blatant violation of that trust," Harris said.

  The stern judge, gazing on the weeping former football coach, sentenced Leighton to 15 years in prison, suspending all but 21 months on three felony convictions of taking indecent liberties with the two Tucker students.

Free Reports

Free Case Evaluation