William David Rogers v. Commonwealth of Virginia, 0713212

Background

In March 2019, William Rogers (appellant) physically restrained his wife Sherry during an altercation at their home; she escaped and police were called. Rogers was charged with assault and abduction related to that incident.
In February 2020 Rogers allegedly assaulted a stepson; he was arrested. After his arrest Sherry told police there was ammunition in the marital home; officers obtained a warrant and then Sherry consented to a search that produced a box of ammunition from Rogers’s bedroom closet.
Rogers, a convicted felon (unlawful wounding, Dec. 2019), was charged and convicted of felon-in-possession of ammunition and abduction; some earlier assault convictions were vacated or dismissed on post-trial motions.
Pretrial, Rogers moved to suppress the ammunition and to disqualify the Commonwealth’s Attorney; both motions were denied. He was later tried, convicted, and sentenced.
At sentencing the Commonwealth introduced testimony and documents of prior unadjudicated violent acts; the court admitted much of this evidence, found Rogers showed no remorse, and imposed an upward departure from the guidelines to six years active incarceration (within statutory maximums).

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (Commonwealth)	Defendant's Argument (Rogers)	Held
Suppression of ammunition	Warrant affidavit and Sherry’s consent validated the search	Affidavit was defective (no location/ownership details) and omitted material facts	Denial affirmed — search valid because Sherry had authority to consent; affidavit objections insufficient
Prosecutor disqualification	Spencer acted within prosecutorial discretion and had no personal interest	Spencer showed personal animus, urged harsh punishment, and sought reinstatement of charges vindictively	Denial affirmed — no disqualifying conflict or proven vindictiveness
Sufficiency of abduction conviction	Physical restraint and repeated prevention of departure showed intent to deprive liberty	No proof of specific intent to deprive Sherry of liberty	Conviction affirmed — evidence supported intent and detention elements
Sufficiency of felon-in-possession conviction	Ammo found in plain view in Rogers’s shared bedroom closet; wife testified it belonged to Rogers	Ammo could belong to someone else or have been planted after arrest	Conviction affirmed — constructive possession proven; jury/court reasonably rejected hypotheses of innocence
Admissibility of unadjudicated bad acts at sentencing	Such evidence is relevant to sentencing, and sentencing courts have broad discretion to consider reliable hearsay	Evidence was immaterial, unreliable, and (per defendant) limited to rebuttal in bifurcated trials	Admission affirmed — sentencing courts have wide discretion; unadjudicated acts admissible if indicia of reliability
Upward departure from guidelines / Eighth Amendment	Sentence was within statutory limits; guidelines are discretionary and not binding	Upward departure was improper and disproportionate absent impermissible prior-bad-acts evidence	Sentence affirmed — within statutory limits; guidelines discretionary; proportionality review inapplicable below life sentence

Key Cases Cited

Georgia v. Randolph, 547 U.S. 103 (consent to search by co-occupant/limits on warrantless entry)
United States v. Matlock, 415 U.S. 164 (joint access/common authority to consent to search)
Williams v. New York, 337 U.S. 241 (broad sentencing discretion to consider varied information)
Powell v. Commonwealth, 267 Va. 107 (prosecutorial conflict of interest standard)
Rawls v. Commonwealth, 272 Va. 334 (constructive possession: dominion and control standard)
Cordon v. Commonwealth, 280 Va. 691 (distinguishing constructive-possession sufficiency where innocent hypothesis plausible)
Minh Duy Du v. Commonwealth, 292 Va. 555 (sentencing within statutory limits ends appellate proportionality review)
Cole v. Commonwealth, 58 Va. App. 642 (Eighth Amendment proportionality review not available for sentences less than life)