Scott Michael Story v. Commonwealth of Virginia

Court of Appeals of Virginia·Decided April 8, 2025·No. 1794234·Unpublished

Opinion

COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA

Present: Judges Beales, Athey and Callins UNPUBLISHED

Argued at Arlington, Virginia

SCOTT MICHAEL STORY

MEMORANDUM OPINION* BY

v. Record No. 1794-23-4 JUDGE RANDOLPH A. BEALES APRIL 8, 2025

COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF STAFFORD COUNTY Michael E. Levy, Judge

Monica Tuck, Assistant Public Defender (Meghan Shapiro, Senior Appellate Attorney; Virginia Indigent Defense Commission, on briefs), for appellant.

Kimberly A. Hackbarth, Senior Assistant Attorney General (Jason S.

Miyares, Attorney General, on brief), for appellee.

Following a May 20, 2022 violation-of-probation hearing, the Circuit Court of Stafford County found Scott Michael Story in violation of the terms and conditions of his probation. The circuit court revoked Story’s suspended sentence, imposed a six-month term of active incarceration, included a ten-year period of good behavior, and ordered that Story be on supervised probation for an indefinite period of time “not to exceed ten (10) years.” Following a July 21, 2023 violation-of-probation hearing, the circuit court again found Story in violation of the terms and conditions of his probation. The circuit court revoked Story’s suspended sentence “upon the same terms and conditions of the previous suspension,” imposed six more months of active incarceration, invoked a new five-year good behavior requirement, and released Story from supervised probation. On appeal, Story argues that the circuit court’s 2022 and 2023 orders

*

This opinion is not designated for publication. See Code § 17.1-413(A).

are unlawful because the maximum period of suspension had passed before the circuit court issued the 2022 and 2023 revocation orders—and because the circuit court lacked jurisdiction to issue the 2022 and 2023 revocation orders, given the General Assembly’s 2021 amendments to Code § 19.2-306(C). Because the 2022 and 2023 orders are not void ab initio, and because Story did not preserve his challenges to these orders for appeal, we affirm the circuit court.

I. BACKGROUND

In 2009, the circuit court convicted Story of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. The circuit court sentenced Story to the statutory maximum of five years of incarceration. See Code §§ 18.2-10(f), 18.2-102. However, the circuit court suspended four years and three months of Story’s five-year sentence upon the condition that Story “be of good behavior for ten (10) years from the defendant’s release from confinement,” for a total active sentence of nine months of incarceration. The circuit court also placed Story on supervised probation for “an indefinite period of time” and required that he pay court costs and restitution.

Later that same year, the circuit court ordered Story to show cause why his suspended sentence should not be revoked for failing to report to his probation officer, for testing positive for drugs, and for failing to pay restitution. By order entered on January 26, 2010, the circuit court found Story in violation of the terms of his suspension, it imposed a six-month active sentence, and it resuspended the balance of Story’s remaining sentence.

In 2011, after Story failed to show up to his probation appointment or pay court costs and restitution, the circuit court ordered Story to show cause why his suspended sentence should not again be revoked. After finding Story in violation of the terms of his suspension following a June 3, 2011 hearing, the circuit court imposed a four-month active sentence, but it resuspended the remaining three years and five months of his original sentence. The circuit court also

removed Story from supervised probation, and it reimposed the remaining conditions from its prior orders, which included a ten-year period of good behavior.

In 2012, Story was convicted of petit larceny, third or subsequent offense. After a hearing on June 12, 2012, the circuit court sentenced Story to five years of incarceration. See Code §§ 18.2-10(f), 18.2-96. The circuit court gave Story an active sentence of one year and suspended the remaining four years of Story’s sentence on the condition that he be of good behavior for ten years from his release date (and that he be placed on supervised probation “for an indefinite period of time”).

In 2014, the circuit court again ordered Story to show cause why his suspended sentences should not be revoked after he failed to show up to his probation appointment or otherwise contact his probation officer. By order entered in June 2014, the circuit court found Story in violation of the terms of his suspended sentences, it revoked the remainder of both of Story’s suspended sentences, and it gave Story six months of actual incarceration to serve, after the court resuspended “three (3) years and five (5) months of the three (3) years and five (5) months sentence for the conviction of Unauthorized Use of Motor Vehicle, and three (3) years six (6) months of the four (4) years sentence for the conviction of Petit Larceny/3rd or Subsequent Offense.” The circuit court also ordered that Story be of good behavior for ten years “from the original conviction date,” and it required that he be on supervised probation “for an indefinite period of time, not to exceed ten (10) years.”

In 2015, the circuit court once again ordered Story to show cause why his suspended sentences should not be revoked for failing to report to his probation officer. Following an April 17, 2015 hearing, the circuit court found Story in violation of the terms of his suspended sentences. The circuit court then imposed a two-year active sentence, and it resuspended “four (4) years and eleven (11) months” of Story’s sentences. The court also kept in place “the same

terms and conditions of the original suspension,” including the requirement that Story be of good behavior for ten years “from the original conviction date of June 12, 2012,” as well as the requirement that Story remain on supervised probation “for an indefinite period of time, not to exceed ten (10) years.”

In 2021, the General Assembly amended Code § 19.2-306(C), which currently states:

If the court, after hearing, finds good cause to believe that the defendant has violated the terms of suspension, then the court may revoke the suspension and . . . [t]he court may again suspend all or any part of this sentence for a period up to the statutory maximum period for which the defendant might originally have been sentenced to be imprisoned, less any time already served, and may place the defendant upon terms and conditions or probation. The court shall measure the period of any suspension of sentence from the date of the entry of the original sentencing order.

The General Assembly also amended Code § 19.2-303, which currently states, in relevant part:

The court may fix the period of probation for up to the statutory maximum period for which the defendant might originally have been sentenced to be imprisoned. Any period of supervised probation shall not exceed five years from the release of the defendant from any active period of incarceration.

Finally, the General Assembly amended Code § 19.2-303.1, which currently states, in relevant part:

In any case where a court suspends the imposition or execution of a sentence, it may fix the period of suspension for up to the statutory maximum period for which the defendant might originally have been sentenced to be imprisoned; however, the court may fix the period of suspension for a period not to exceed three years for a violation of § 18.2-67.4 or 18.2-67.4:2.

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