Massachusetts Lawyer

FRANCISCO ORTEGA v. COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA

31 Va. App. 779

March 14, 2000, Decided

The detective also testified that Ortega was arrested and convicted for the 1994 burglaries.  The trial judge convicted Ortega of the five burglaries and the five larcenies. He sentenced Ortega to twenty years in prison with ten years suspended.

Whether the trial court erred in admitting evidence that defendant pled guilty to his involvement in a series 1994 burglaries?

Ortega contends the evidence concerning the 1994 burglaries was inherently prejudicial and served only to prove criminal propensity. The Commonwealth argues that the evidence was properly admitted to prove identity.

The court finds that “although Keith and Carlton Davis were implicated in the prior burglaries, the evidence proved that Ortega was also a perpetrator in those burglaries. While the evidence does not definitively establish that Ortega, rather than one of the Davises, was the person who moved the knives, Ortega’s presence at both the 1994 and the 1998 burglaries is a sufficient connection between the two sets of burglary crimes to permit “the fact finder to reasonably . . . infer that the same person committed both burglary crimes.” 

The court concludes that although Davis’ testimony must be considered with caution because he is also implicated in the crimes, given the other corroborating evidence, his testimony was sufficiently reliable to prove Ortega’s guilt. Accordingly, the evidence was sufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Ortega was guilty of the five burglaries and the five grand larcenies.

We affirm the convictions.

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.

Originally published here.