holding that the Virginia APA “exempts actions of agencies relating to ‘[i]nmates of prisons or other such facilities or parolees therefrom,’ ” that “the Virginia Department of Corrections is an agency whose sole purpose is related to inmates of prisons,” and that the Department “is thus exempt from the strictures of the APA” (internal citation omitted)
How later courts described this case
- holding that the Virginia APA “exempts actions of agencies relating to ‘[i]nmates of prisons or other such facilities or parolees therefrom,’ ” that “the Virginia Department of Corrections is an agency whose sole purpose is related to inmates of prisons,” and that the Department “is thus exempt from the strictures of the APA” (internal citation omitted)
- explaining that a trial court " 'by definition abuses its discretion when it makes an error of law.... The abuse-of-discretion standard includes review to determine that the discretion was not guided by erroneous legal conclusions.’ ” (quoting Koon v. United States, 518 U.S. 81, 100, 116 S.Ct. 2035, 2047, 135 L.Ed.2d 392 (1996))
- explaining that a trial court “‘by definition abuses its discretion when it makes an error of law. . . . The abuse-of-discretion standard includes review to determine that the discretion was not guided by erroneous legal conclusions.’” (quoting Koon v. United States, 518 U.S. 81, 100 (1996))
- recognizing that in-court practices that present an unacceptable risk of “impermissible factors coming into play” are inherently prejudicial and “pose an unacceptable threat to a defendant’s right to a fair trial”
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
Justice KEENAN, dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. I join in Justice Koontz's analysis and conclusion that this Court's holding permits a defendant to be executed under void judgments. In my view, in the absence of subject matter jurisdiction, Porter effectively was not tried for these offenses and, thus, ultimately will be executed based solely on the indictments that were returned against him. Because the conclusion I reach requires reversal of the void judgments, I would not address any other issue in the case and would remand the case for a new trial.