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Appellate Advocacy Keyed to Meador, 2nd Ed.
Lavinder v. Commonwealth
Citation:
407 S.E.2d 910 (1991)Facts
Raymond Lewis Lavinder was tried for robbing a music store employee who was making a night deposit at a bank. The prosecution’s case relied on identification testimony from the victim, another employee present during the robbery, a nearby storekeeper who saw someone run past, and a fourth witness who placed Lavinder in the vicinity. Lavinder presented an alibi defense, testifying that he was at home during the robbery, supported by testimony from his mother, her boyfriend, and a friend. During cross-examination, the prosecutor was permitted to ask Lavinder about his juvenile record, specifically that he had been “found not innocent” of two felonies. The trial court instructed the jury they could consider this evidence as affecting his credibility. The defense argued this violated Virginia’s juvenile law policy of preserving juvenile offender anonymity. The Court of Appeals panel determined this admission was error, and the en banc court had to determine whether this error was harmless.
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