Bland-Henderson v. Commonwealth

Syllabus

06/20/2024 In the appeal of a criminal case, the Court of Appeals did not err in applying Code § 19.2-295 by affirming the circuit court's denial of an untimely request for jury sentencing, because the defendant had waived his right to jury sentencing by missing the statutory deadline to request it. However, there is no presumption that \shall\ commands directed at private litigants are mandatory. Regarding voir dire, the Court of Appeals did not err under the provisions of Code § 19.2-262.01 in affirming the circuit court's decision to prohibit the defendant from questioning the jury panel about the mandatory minimum sentence, because voir dire on sentencing ranges is irrelevant to a juror's fitness to serve, when the jury will not be sentencing the defendant. The judgment is affirmed.