Flanagan v. Commonwealth

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• finding that “the last clause of Code § 18.2-85 constitutes a statutory defense for which an accused bears the burden of providing the supporting evidence”
• explaining that “[i]n its role of judging witness -9- credibility, the fact finder is entitled to disbelieve the self-serving testimony of the accused and to conclude that the accused is lying to conceal h[er] guilt” (quoting Marable v. Commonwealth, 27 Va. App. 505, 509-10 (1998))
• “[T]he fact finder is entitled to disbelieve the self-serving testimony of the accused.” (quoting Marable v. Commonwealth, 27 Va. App. 505, 509-10 (1998))
• finder of fact is entitled to conclude that the defendant is lying to conceal his guilt
• finder of fact can reject the accused’s self-serving testimony and conclude that he is lying to conceal his guilt
• “[T]he fact finder is entitled to disbelieve the self-serving testimony of the accused . . . .”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).