Juan Antonio Coronado, Francisco Soliz Ramirez, Roberto Rivera III, and Ruben Contreras v. Freedom Communications, Inc. D/B/A the Brownsville Herald and Valley Morning Star

How courts have described this case

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

• affirming the defendant’s malicious wounding conviction when he struck the “defenseless” victim in the back of the head with a firearm, knocking him to the ground and rendering him unconscious
• “Intent is the purpose formed in a person’s mind which may, and often must, be inferred from the facts and circumstances in a particular case.” (quoting Burton v. Commonwealth, 281 Va. 622, 626-27 (2011))
• “Intent can . . . be inferred from the act itself.”
• “The credibility of the witnesses and the weight accorded the evidence are matters solely for the fact finder who has the opportunity to see and hear that evidence as it is presented.” (quoting Elliott v. Commonwealth, 277 Va. 457, 462 (2009))
• “Violently striking an unsuspecting, defenseless victim, without provocation, in the back of the head with a firearm . . . supports the reasonable inference that the attacker had the intent to maliciously wound the victim in cases where, as here, the attack actually injured the victim.”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).