by

Atchuthan Sriskandarajah

THOMAS v. CITY OF HAMPTON

Facts:

City police responded to a call and observed defendant in a hotel lobby, standing naked and complaining that small furry animals were biting him. Defendant appeared to be intoxicated and refused to leave the area when asked to do so. The arresting officer arrested defendant for disorderly conduct but admitted that he had probable cause to arrest him for indecent exposure, public intoxication, and obstructing free passage of others. He was convicted under Hampton, Va., City Code 24-12, disorderly conducts.

Issue:

Whether the trial court erred in denying his motion to strike the evidence as the other crimes proviso of 24-12 allegedly precluded his prosecution for

disorderly conduct

?

Discussion:

The Court finds that the ordinance was enacted pursuant to the authority of Va. Code Ann. 18.2-415, prior appellate decisions interpreting 18.2-415 were relevant in the application of the disorderly conduct ordinance. However, while the other crimes proviso in 18.2-415 precluded a conviction if the disorderly conduct was comprised solely of conduct punishable under Va. Code Ann. tit. 18.2, 24-12(b) only applied to a subset of those offenses made punishable under Hampton, Va., City Code ch. 24. Because the ordinance punishing indecent exposure was codified in Hampton, Va., City Code ch. 23 ( 23-12), the disorderly conduct was not comprised solely of conduct otherwise punishable under ch. 24. Accordingly this court affirmed the trial court’s judgment

Disclaimer:

These summaries are provided by the

SRIS Law Group,

. They represent the firm s unofficial views of the Justices opinions. The original opinions should be consulted for their authoritative content

Atchuthan Sriskandarajah is a Virginia lawyer and owner of the SRIS Law Group. The SRIS Law Group has offices in Virginia, Maryland,

Massachusetts

, New York, North Carolina & California. The firm handles criminal/traffic defense, family law, immigration & bankruptcy cases.

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