Harry Meredith Williams v. Commonwealth of Virginia

CourtCourt of Appeals of Virginia
DecidedJune 9, 2026
Docket0215252
StatusUnpublished

This text of Harry Meredith Williams v. Commonwealth of Virginia (Harry Meredith Williams 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.

Bluebook
Harry Meredith Williams v. Commonwealth of Virginia, (Va. Ct. App. 2026).

Opinion

COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA

Record No. 0215-25-2

HARRY MEREDITH WILLIAMS v. COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

Present: Chief Judge Decker, Judges Beales and Athey Opinion Issued June 9, 2026*

FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF HENRICO COUNTY Rondelle D. Herman, Judge

(Charles E. Haden, on brief), for appellant.

(Jason S. Miyares,1 Attorney General; Liam A. Curry, Assistant Attorney General, on brief), for appellee.

MEMORANDUM OPINION BY JUDGE CLIFFORD L. ATHEY, JR.

After a jury trial, the Circuit Court of Henrico County (“trial court”) convicted Harry

Meredith Williams (“Williams”) of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. The trial court

sentenced Williams, who was previously convicted of a violent felony, to the mandatory-minimum

sentence of five years’ incarceration. On appeal, Williams claims that the trial court erred: 1) by

denying his motions to strike because the evidence was insufficient to show that he constructively

* This opinion is not designated for publication. See Code § 17.1-413(A). 1 Jay C. Jones succeeded Jason S. Miyares as Attorney General on January 17, 2026. possessed a firearm, and 2) by issuing a jury instruction on joint possession. Finding no error, we

affirm the trial court’s judgment.2

I. BACKGROUND3

On October 10, 2023, officers from both the Henrico County and City of Richmond

Police Departments performed a traffic stop of a blue Dodge sedan on Nine Mile Road in

Henrico County. Although the vehicle was owned by Williams’s girlfriend, Shaquanda Hill

(“Hill”), Williams was driving the blue Dodge sedan while his friend Wiltor Fritz (“Fritz”) was

the sole passenger and sat in the front passenger seat. Law enforcement subsequently searched

the vehicle, recovering two handguns that were a Glock 21 and a pistol commonly known as a

“Draco.”4 A grand jury subsequently indicted Williams on one count of possessing a firearm as

a felon, in violation of Code § 18.2-308.2(A), and the indictment did not specify which firearm

Williams allegedly possessed. The matter then proceeded to a jury trial that began on June 6,

2024.

At trial, Henrico County Police Officer Kevin Robinette (“Officer Robinette”) testified

that as he approached the driver’s side of the vehicle, he saw Williams “reaching around and

2 Having examined the briefs and record in this case, the panel unanimously agrees that oral argument is unnecessary because “the facts and legal arguments are adequately presented in the briefs and record, and the decisional process would not be significantly aided by oral argument.” See Code § 17.1-403(ii)(c); Rule 5A:27(c). 3 “[W]e recite the evidence below ‘in the “light most favorable” to the Commonwealth, the prevailing party in the trial court.’” Hammer v. Commonwealth, 74 Va. App. 225, 231 (2022) (quoting Commonwealth v. Cady, 300 Va. 325, 329 (2021)). This standard “requires us to ‘discard the evidence of the accused in conflict with that of the Commonwealth, and regard as true all the credible evidence favorable to the Commonwealth and all fair inferences to be drawn therefrom.’” Cady, 300 Va. at 329 (quoting Commonwealth v. Perkins, 295 Va. 323, 324 (2018)). 4 The witnesses and parties refer to this firearm by various names, including a “AK [style] pistol,” “Zastava . . . pistol,” “Draco pistol,” and “Drake.” For ease of reference, we refer to the firearm as a “Draco.” -2- moving around the car” but could not see exactly where Williams was reaching because the

vehicle’s rear windows were tinted. After Williams rolled down the driver’s window, Officer

Robinette directed him to roll down the backseat windows and turn off the vehicle, and Williams

complied.

Officer Robinette also testified that when he asked for Williams’s driver’s license and

registration, Williams reached back into the area between the front-passenger seat and backseat

and “was digging down . . . [and] moving some stuff around looking for his identification.”

Officer Robinette further explained that as Williams searched for his license and registration,

another officer told Williams to just provide his name, before directing Williams to exit the

vehicle. Officer Robinette testified that he patted Williams down but did not seize any items

from him during the pat down. Following another officer patting down Fritz, the officer

recovered an ammunition magazine “for an AK” firearm.

Next, the Commonwealth called Richmond City Police Officer Garrick Danko (“Officer

Danko”), who had searched the front passenger area of the sedan along with his colleague,

Officer Dominic Colombo (“Officer Colombo”). Officer Danko testified that he began his

search in the front passenger seat area but noted that “the glove box was locked.” Officer Danko

then testified that he was initially given a set of keys that he described as “a giant key chain of

keys” but that not one of those keys unlocked the glove box. He also testified that he received a

second set of keys from Officer Colombo, describing this new set of keys as “just the key fob”

from which the glove-box key unsheathed. He testified that the key, once extracted from the fob,

opened the glove box.5 Officer Danko then recalled finding a Glock 21 handgun in the glove

box, alongside of “a Glock magazine,” and “court paperwork” underneath the Glock 21 handgun

5 Whether Williams possessed the key to the glovebox is disputed. As explained below, we need not resolve this dispute. -3- that was “from . . . July of 2023[] with . . . Williams’[s] name on it.” Officer Danko also testified

that he recovered Williams’s cell phone and gave it to another officer at the scene.

The Commonwealth then called Officer Colombo, who testified that he began his search

on the front driver’s side of the vehicle before moving to the rear passenger seat. He also

recalled that the front passenger seatback was pushed far back into the rear seat area and that

once he raised the seatback, he found a Draco pistol “seated with the barrel facing down and the

grip facing up.” The bottom of the grip of the Draco faced toward the driver’s side of the vehicle

and was “within reach of someone sitting in the driver’s seat.” Officer Colombo also

acknowledged that, due to the front passenger seat being reclined, he “couldn’t see [the Draco]

immediately when [he] went into the vehicle” but “once . . . [he] got to . . . the back, it appeared

as if [someone] could still reach [the Draco] from [the] driver[’s] seat.”

Next, the Commonwealth called Richmond City Police Officer John Black (“Officer

Black”) who testified that he searched Williams’s cellphone pursuant to a search warrant. He

recalled Williams telling him “that nothing was on th[e] phone” before providing the access code

to him. Officer Black also testified that, contrary to Williams’s statement, he found multiple

conversations about firearms while searching the cellphone.

Officer Black then explained to the jury that in July of 2023, Williams had texted

someone saved in his contacts as “Jun” that he “need[ed] a strap,”6 “need[ed] something asap,”

and he was looking to “buy.” Officer Black further testified that in August of 2023, Williams

asked Jun to “send [him] a pic of the Drake to show my man.” Officer Black described how in

response, Jun sent Williams “[a] photo of an AK style Draco firearm,” “an identical firearm” to

the one “recovered in the vehicle.” Officer Black further opined that the Draco depicted in the

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Harry Meredith Williams v. Commonwealth of Virginia, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harry-meredith-williams-v-commonwealth-of-virginia-vactapp-2026.