Mitchell Ira Young v. Commonwealth of Virginia

CourtCourt of Appeals of Virginia
DecidedJune 9, 2026
Docket1489242
StatusPublished

This text of Mitchell Ira Young v. Commonwealth of Virginia (Mitchell Ira Young 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
Mitchell Ira Young v. Commonwealth of Virginia, (Va. Ct. App. 2026).

Opinion

COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA

Record No. 1489-24-2

MITCHELL IRA YOUNG v. COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

Present: Chief Judge Decker, Judges Ortiz and Callins Argued at Richmond, Virginia Opinion Issued June 9, 2026

FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND Richard B. Campbell, Judge

Catherine French Zagurskie, Chief Appellate Counsel (Virginia Indigent Defense Commission, on briefs), for appellant.

Jennifer L. Guiliano, Assistant Attorney General (Jason S. Miyares,1 Attorney General, on brief), for appellee.

PUBLISHED OPINION BY JUDGE DOMINIQUE A. CALLINS

Mitchell Ira Young appeals his convictions for robbery and use of a firearm in the

commission of the robbery. He argues that the trial court should have suppressed in- and

out-of-court identifications as suggestive and unreliable and granted his proffered jury

instruction about eyewitness identifications. He also contends that the evidence was insufficient

to prove his identity as the robber. We disagree and hold that the eyewitness identification was

not suggestive, that his proffered instruction was appropriately denied, and that the evidence was

sufficient to prove identity. Thus, we affirm the trial court’s judgment.

1 Jay C. Jones succeeded Jason S. Miyares as Attorney General on January 17, 2026. BACKGROUND2

Young was playing a “skill game” in a convenience store, when James Woody, a machine

service technician, approached him to collect money from the machine.3 Woody and Young had

encountered each other in the same store, “once, maybe twice before.” The two were standing

about three feet apart, and though Young wore a mask, he had it pulled down around his neck,

exposing his entire face to Woody. When Woody explained that he needed to work on the

machine, Young gathered his things and walked out of the store.

Ten minutes later, Young reentered the store with his mask pulled up, “put a gun to

[Woody’s] face, and said, give me the fucking bag.” Woody “tossed the bag over to him,” which

contained the proceeds from two stores, totaling “between $30,000 to $40,000.” Young walked

out, and Woody called the authorities.

Richmond Police Detective Mark Hatchett arrived at the scene and interviewed Woody.

Woody described the robber as a “Black male, 32 years old, 5’9, skinny, red/blue/black mask,

hood, black Jordan jacket, blue jeans, black shoes, red baseball hat, with a black belt[, and]

armed with a handgun.” Detective Hatchett estimated the robber’s weight from the store’s

surveillance video, but he could not determine his eye color or whether he had any tattoos.

2 When reviewing the denial of a motion to suppress and a motion to strike, we view the facts “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)). However, “[w]hen reviewing a trial court’s refusal to give a proffered jury instruction, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the proponent of the instruction.” Dandridge v. Commonwealth, 72 Va. App. 669, 676 (2021) (alteration in original) (quoting Lienau v. Commonwealth, 69 Va. App. 254, 260 (2018)). We unseal facts found in the sealed record only to the extent we discuss them. Brown v. Va. State Bar ex rel. Sixth Dist. Comm., 302 Va. 234, 240 n.2 (2023). 3 The record does not define a “skill game,” but Woody described servicing the machines by “collecting cash from” them and checking to ensure that “they were operating properly with paper” and that the machines were “playable.” -2- Surveillance footage from the parking lot and inside the store corroborated Woody’s

account of the events. It showed Young leaving the store and a “white Chevy Equinox rental

vehicle with Florida plates arriving at the business seconds before the robbery.” Detective

Hatchett explained the video showed Young “walk out of the store when he initially left, and then

return[] in this vehicle wearing the same clothes that he had on, and proceed[] to rob the victim

seconds after he turns the corner into the store.” Police were able to view the Equinox’s Florida

license plate through the Flock camera system, which records license plate images “throughout

the country at various locations, street corners, [and] intersections.” They learned that Young’s

mother had rented the Equinox and that the only other known driver of the Equinox was Young’s

son, who was at school during the robbery and did not match the robber’s description.

Based on this information, police determined Young fit the description of the robber and

assembled a photo lineup with seven photographs of men of the same race, within four or five

years of Young’s age and with similar “facial characteristics.” The fillers were based on Young’s

actual age, 40, rather than on Woody’s estimate of the robber’s age, 32, “in order to [ensure] that

the lineup [was] fair, unbiased, and [did not] highlight the suspect in any[ ]way.” Detective

Hatchett administered the lineup with Woody 15 days after the robbery. Detective Hatchett

explained that he had “to go through all of [the photos]” and that he could “come back to”

photographs if Woody believed he recognized someone. He showed the photographs to Woody

sequentially, placing each one face down before showing the next. Woody first stopped on the

photograph of Young, the second one shown. Detective Hatchett told Woody, “[L]et’s go

through the rest of them,” and they did so. Woody then said that “he wanted to look at the

pictures again.” Woody “flipped through them again and got to number two and identified Mr.

Young as the man who robbed him.” He circled that photograph, wrote down the circumstances

when he saw Young, and signed and dated the photograph.

-3- Young moved to suppress Woody’s out-of-court and future in-court eyewitness

identification, claiming the single-blind out-of-court identification was impermissibly suggestive.

At a hearing, Detective Hatchett indicated that he was the only officer available to administer the

lineup when he finished preparing it. He did not want to wait any longer to administer it because

if he “let days drag on” the victim’s memory may have faded. He explained that the Department

suffered from a staffing shortage, noting that “[a] year ago [they] had ten people in [their] offices

and detectives,” but that as of the hearing date, they had four. And on the day of the lineup, he

could only recall “probably . . . five” officers being on duty. He also agreed that, over the course

of the investigation, “there were several detectives who were involved who knew who the true

suspect was,” which also “limited who was available” to show Woody the array.

After hearing further testimony from Detective Hatchett, the trial court denied Young’s

motion. Detective Hatchett clarified that he did not hand Woody the photograph of Young “any

differently than any of the others.” He did not say anything to Woody when he passed his

photograph or while Woody held it. And he did not “make any noises,” “breathe any

differently,” “make any hand gestures” or “facial expressions,” or “make any indication about

who the true suspect was” while Woody held the photograph of Young. In fact, he “never

informed [Woody] that he had selected the true suspect.” Based on these facts, the trial court

found that the photo lineup was not suggestive.

At trial, Woody identified Young as the robber. He agreed that he told police that the

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