Gerald Jermaine Pearson v. Commonwealth of Virginia

CourtCourt of Appeals of Virginia
DecidedJanuary 17, 2012
Docket2422104
StatusUnpublished

This text of Gerald Jermaine Pearson v. Commonwealth of Virginia (Gerald Jermaine Pearson v. Commonwealth of Virginia) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Gerald Jermaine Pearson v. Commonwealth of Virginia, (Va. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA

Present: Judges Haley, Beales and Alston Argued at Alexandria, Virginia

GERALD JERMAINE PEARSON MEMORANDUM OPINION * BY v. Record No. 2422-10-4 JUDGE RANDOLPH A. BEALES JANUARY 17, 2012 CITY OF FALLS CHURCH

FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF ARLINGTON COUNTY James F. Almand, Judge

Allison H. Carpenter, Assistant Public Defender (Sara M. Bieker, Assistant Public Defender; Office of the Public Defender for Arlington County and the City of Falls Church, on brief), for appellant.

John E. Foster (Office of the City Attorney, on brief), for appellee.

Gerald Jermaine Pearson (appellant) was charged with two counts of injuring or

tampering with a vehicle, in violation of Virginia Code § 18.2-146, and one count of trespass in

violation of City of Falls Church City Code § 28-72 1 (City Code § 28-72). The jury convicted

appellant of trespass and found him not guilty of the remaining count of tampering. 2 On appeal,

appellant argues that the trial court erred in failing to grant his motion to declare City Code

§ 28-72 unconstitutional and invalid on the grounds that it is “facially unconstitutional” and that

it violates the Dillon Rule. In addition, appellant argues that the evidence was insufficient as a

* Pursuant to Code § 17.1-413, this opinion is not designated for publication. 1 “It shall be unlawful for any person to walk, ride or drive upon the land owned, leased or occupied by another person, between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., without the consent of the person entitled to possession of such premises.” City Code § 28-72. 2 Appellant’s motion to strike the other count of tampering with a vehicle was granted. matter of law to sustain his trespassing conviction because the City of Falls Church (the City)

failed to prove the element of time as required under City Code § 28-72. For the following

reasons, we conclude that the trial court did not err, and, therefore, we affirm this conviction on

appeal.

I. BACKGROUND

At trial, appellant was convicted of violating City Code § 28-72 by trespassing onto the

property of Koons Auto Body Shop in the City of Falls Church between the hours of 11:00 p.m.

and 7:00 a.m. on December 20, 2009. The record on appeal contains a written statement of facts

in lieu of a transcript of the trial proceedings. See Rules 5A:7(a)(7); 5A:8(d). The written

statement of facts reflects the following evidence and arguments presented at trial.

John Morris, the manager of Koons Auto Body Shop, testified that he did not give

appellant permission to be on the lot of Koons Auto Body Shop in the early morning hours of

December 20, 2009, at approximately 1:00 a.m. Morris described the body shop, stating that the

back part of the body shop lot has an eight-to-ten-foot chain-link fence surrounding it, with

barbed wire at the top. 3 He also testified there were security cameras on 24 hours a day, seven

days a week – and they were monitored from 10:00 p.m. until 5:00 a.m. each night.

Officer Alan Freed of the Falls Church Police Department, who “responded to a call” that

someone was on the Koons property, also testified for the City. During Officer Freed’s direct

examination at trial, the prosecutor asked, “Were you in uniform and displaying your badge of

authority in the early morning hours of December 20th, 2009 within the confines of the City of

Falls Church?” (Emphasis added). Officer Freed responded, “Yes sir.” The prosecutor then

asked Officer Freed, “Did you have the opportunity to come into contact with the defendant

3 Morris also testified that the two sliding gates separating the aisles in the front lot from the back lot had been left open on the date in question to allow snow plows through to plow the lot (although the snow plows apparently did not, in fact, actually plow the lot at that time). -2- Gerald Jermaine Pearson?” Officer Freed responded, “Yes sir.” Officer Freed identified

appellant as who he encountered within the property of Koons Auto Body Shop on that date.

Officer Freed also testified that appellant was wearing a long black coat “as described by the

people that were giving us the information.” 4

Appellant moved to strike the trespass charge on the basis that the City failed to present

sufficient evidence of the time of day that Officer Freed found appellant in the Koons lot, even

though “between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.” is an element of this crime, as stated in

City Code § 28-72. In response to appellant’s motion, the prosecutor stated that the trial court’s

recollection would control, but believed he remembered asking Officer Freed “what brought his

attention to the early morning hours of December 20, 2009 and the officer responded at

1:04 a.m. he had received a call of people on the property and that’s what he responded to.”

(Emphasis added). Furthermore, the written statement of facts states that nothing indicated “that

the correct time of responding to the call and taking the Defendant into custody was other than

approximately 1 a.m. in the early morning hours of Sunday, December 20, 2009.” Thus, the trial

court denied the motion to strike.

Appellant did not present any witnesses in the guilt phase of the trial. At the close of the

evidence, appellant renewed his motion to strike the City’s evidence on the trespass charge,

arguing that the evidence was insufficient to support a finding of guilt. The court denied that

motion, stating that the issue of timing on the trespass charge was factual and, thus, should be

decided by the jury.

4 The statement of facts reflects that, after appellant was taken into custody during the early morning hours of December 20, 2009, the magistrate signed arrest warrants for automobile tampering at 5:33 a.m. and 5:36 a.m. and also signed a summons for trespassing at 5:45 a.m. According to the statement of facts, “The summons and warrants of arrest were not admitted into evidence and were not presented to the jury, but are part of the record per Rule 5A:7.” See Rule 5A:7(a)(7) (explaining that the record on appeal includes “the transcript of any proceeding or a written statement of facts, testimony, and other incidents of the case”). -3- The jury found appellant guilty of trespass under City Code § 28-72, and the trial court

denied appellant’s post-trial motion to set aside this verdict.

II. ANALYSIS

City Code § 28-72 – the ordinance challenged by appellant – states, “It shall be unlawful

for any person to walk, ride or drive upon the land owned, leased or occupied by another person,

between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., without the consent of the person entitled to

possession of such premises.”

A. Constitutional Challenge to City Code § 28-72

In his first assignment of error, appellant argues that the trial court erred in failing to

grant his motion to declare City Code § 28-72 unconstitutional and invalid on the ground that it

is “facially unconstitutional” in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.

(Emphasis added). However, appellant’s facial challenge to City Code § 28-72 is barred because

appellant did not have standing. In addition, appellant did not include an as-applied challenge to

the ordinance in his assignments of error, as is required under Rule 5A:12 and controlling case

law.

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