Johnson, Ronald v. Commonwealth
292 Va. 738
| Va. | 2016Background
- Ronald E. Johnson was charged with three felonies (forgery, uttering, attempting to obtain money by false pretenses) and was ordered to appear in Fredericksburg General District Court on June 20, 2013; he did not appear.
- A grand jury indicted Johnson on three counts of felony failure to appear under Va. Code § 19.2-128(B).
- Johnson moved to dismiss two counts on double jeopardy grounds, arguing a single nonappearance can support only one failure-to-appear conviction. The trial court denied the motion.
- Johnson entered a conditional guilty plea to three counts and received an aggregate six-year sentence (five years suspended).
- The Court of Appeals affirmed unanimously; the Virginia Supreme Court reviewed whether multiple convictions violated double jeopardy.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument (Commonwealth) | Defendant's Argument (Johnson) | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whether multiple convictions for failure to appear (one per underlying felony) violate double jeopardy | Statute contemplates each underlying felony as a separate predicate; legislature intended separate unit of prosecution | A single willful failure to appear at one time/place is one criminal act; at most one conviction may be imposed | Affirmed: each underlying felony is a separate unit of prosecution under § 19.2-128(B) |
| Proper unit of prosecution under § 19.2-128(B) | "A felony offense" means each felony charge can serve as a predicate for a failure-to-appear conviction | The phrase grades the offense (felony v. misdemeanor); the criminal act is the single failure to appear | Held that the statute’s text and structure show legislative intent to permit separate convictions tied to each felony charge |
Key Cases Cited
- Lawlor v. Commonwealth, 285 Va. 187 (discusses de novo review for multiple-punishment double jeopardy claims)
- Blythe v. Commonwealth, 222 Va. 722 (single-trial multiple punishments limited by legislative intent)
- Kelsoe v. Commonwealth, 226 Va. 197 (multiple offenses where single act victimized multiple persons)
- Jordan v. Commonwealth, 2 Va. App. 590 (separate robbery offenses for distinct victims/actions)
- Mason v. Commonwealth, 49 Va. App. 39 (separate statutory unit when statute defines a thing that can be multiple items)
- Shears v. Commonwealth, 23 Va. App. 394 (separate possession offenses for separate acts/possessions)
- Brown v. Ohio, 432 U.S. 161 (double jeopardy limits multiple punishments for same offense)
- Illinois v. Vitale, 447 U.S. 410 (double jeopardy principles on successive prosecutions)