Cole v. Commonwealth
58 Va. App. 642
| Va. Ct. App. | 2011Background
- Cole married Tammy Taylor in 1995 and later married Donna Vincent in 2005 without divorcing Tammy.
- On the marriage-license application, Cole claimed he had not been previously married.
- A grand jury indicted Cole for bigamy under Code § 18.2-362; at trial, Cole offered no factual defenses, only legal defenses.
- The trial court convicted Cole of bigamy after a jury verdict of guilty.
- Virginia law treats bigamous marriages as void, but the statute prohibiting bigamy remains criminally enforceable.
- Cole challenged his conviction on several constitutional grounds, all of which the court rejected.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Is bigamy legally impossible to convict under § 18.2-362? | Cole argues bigamy cannot exist legally since the second marriage is void. | Commonwealth contends bigamy is a crime even if the second marriage is void. | Conviction valid; statute criminalizes the act of marrying while already married. |
| Is § 18.2-362 void for vagueness under due process? | Bigamy statute is void for vagueness and enforcement is arbitrary. | Statute provides fair warning and is not unconstitutionally vague. | Not void for vagueness; provides ordinary-intelligence understanding and fair warning. |
| Does § 18.2-362 violate equal protection relative to § 20-38.1? | Two statutes criminalize bigamy with different penalties, lacking rational distinction. | Different statutes serve different offenses and defenses; overlap is permissible. | No equal-protection violation; statutes target different conduct and have distinct defenses. |
| Does the two-year sentence under § 18.2-362 constitute cruel and unusual punishment? | Two years is excessive punishment for bigamy. | Eight Amendment proportionality does not apply to non-life terms under current precedent. | No cruel-and-unusual-punishment issue; term is within statutory limits. |
Key Cases Cited
- Farewell v. Commonwealth, 167 Va. 475 (1937) (defines bigamy as two concurrent spouses; offense is entering second marriage)
- Hager v. Hager, 3 Va.App. 415 (1986) (bigamy can be criminal despite void nature of second marriage)
- Murphy v. Holland, 237 Va. 212 (1989) (voidness of bigamous marriage does not preclude criminalization)
- Stuart v. Commonwealth, 11 Va.App. 216 (1990) (statutes construed together; illegality and penalties during remarriage context)
- Lilly v. Commonwealth, 50 Va.App. 173 (2007) (bigamy statutes understood outside suspect classifications; rational-basis review)
- George v. Commonwealth, 51 Va.App. 137 (2008) (prosecution decisions and charging discretion between statutes)
- Bradshaw v. Commonwealth, 228 Va. 484 (1984) (overlap of offenses; charging decisions may rely on multiple statutes)
- Alston v. Commonwealth, 274 Va. 759 (2007) (statutory interpretation and rational basis considerations)
- Hutto v. Davis, 454 U.S. 370 (1982) (Eighth Amendment proportionality standard for non-life terms under framework)
- Regina v. Brawn, 174 Eng. Rep. 751 (1843) (historical understanding of bigamy's crime and voidness)