Smith 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 defendant acted in excusable self-defense when he retreated from the conflict as far as possible and shot another man, whose cocaine he had stolen, to prevent that man from shooting him
• finding excusable homicide in self-defense requires “an overt act indicating the victim’s imminent intention to kill or seriously harm the accused” (emphasis added)
• finding self-defense as a matter of law where defendant arguably provoked the initial confrontation, attempted to withdraw from the conflict, had no other reasonable avenue of escape, and took the only action available to prevent his death or serious bodily harm
• excusable self-defense where defendant used deadly force after fleeing from armed intruders and being cornered in kitchen
• “Any form of conduct by the accused from which the fact finder may reasonably infer that the accused contributed to the affray constitutes fault.” (cleaned up)
• “Any form of conduct by the accused from which the fact finder may reasonably infer that the accused contributed to the affray constitutes fault.” (cleaned up)

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).

Cited by

24 cases in this archive cite this case; the 20 most cited are listed.

• Lynn v. Commonwealth
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 1998-05-12· cited 96×
• Graham v. Commonwealth
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 2000-03-07· cited 63×
• Rhodes v. Commonwealth
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 2003-07-29· cited 62×
• Utz v. Commonwealth
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 1998-10-20· cited 57×
• Carlos Matthew Bell v. Commonwealth of Virginia
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 2016-08-02· cited 57×
• Hughes v. Commonwealth
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 2002-12-17· cited 56×
• Peeples v. Commonwealth
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 1999-10-05· cited 37×
• Connell v. Commonwealth
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 2001-02-27· cited 24×
• United States v. Martin Hunt
  Fourth Circuit· 2024-04-16· cited 22×
• Samuels v. Commonwealth
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 1998-04-14· cited 18×
• Sands v. Commonwealth
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 2000-11-07· cited 4×
• Cooper v. Commonwealth
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 1999-06-15· cited 4×
• Stanlee Sebastian Jones v. Commonwealth of Virginia
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 2019-11-05
• Justin Thomas Meade v. Commonwealth of Virginia
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 2022-05-17
• Anthony Patrick Washington v. Commonwealth of Virginia
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 2022-10-18
• Colas v. Tyree
  Supreme Court of Virginia· 2023-01-26
• William Ezell Taylor v. Commonwealth of Virginia
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 2023-03-28
• United States v. Xavier Greene
  Fourth Circuit· 2024-04-16
• United States v. Ryan Taybron
  Fourth Circuit· 2024-04-16
• United States v. Raymond Palmer
  Fourth Circuit· 2024-04-16

Cites

9 cases in this archive are cited by this case.

• Yarborough v. Commonwealth
  Supreme Court of Virginia· 1977-04-22· cited 276×
• McGhee v. Commonwealth
  Supreme Court of Virginia· 1978-11-22· cited 137×
• Bailey v. Commonwealth
  Supreme Court of Virginia· 1958-06-16· cited 62×
• Perricllia v. Commonwealth
  Supreme Court of Virginia· 1985-03-08· cited 46×
• Dodson v. Commonwealth
  Supreme Court of Virginia· 1933-01-12· cited 36×
• Bell v. Commonwealth
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 1986-03-18· cited 19×
• Harper v. Commonwealth
  Supreme Court of Virginia· 1936-01-16· cited 13×
• Nelson v. Commonwealth
  Supreme Court of Virginia· 1937-06-10· cited 11×
• Hensley v. Commonwealth
  Supreme Court of Virginia· 1933-09-21· cited 9×