Deborah Artis v. Commonwealth ( 1997 )

COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA
Present: Judges Baker, Annunziata and Overton
Argued by Teleconference
DEBORAH ARTIS
MEMORANDUM OPINION * BY
v. Record No. 2131-96-1 JUDGE NELSON T. OVERTON
APRIL 29, 1997
COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA
FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF VIRGINIA BEACH
Edward W. Hanson, Jr., Judge
Wm. Brandon Baade for appellant.
Thomas D. Bagwell, Senior Assistant Attorney
General (James S. Gilmore, III, Attorney
General, on brief), for appellee.
Deborah Artis was convicted by a jury of grand larceny.
She appeals, contending that she was denied her right of
allocution. For the reasons that follow, we affirm her
conviction.
The parties are fully conversant with the record in the
cause, and because this memorandum opinion carries no
precedential value, no recitation of the facts is necessary.
Although the trial transcript confirms that the trial judge
never explicitly asked Artis whether she had anything she wished
to say before he pronounced judgment, it also reveals that Artis
did have an opportunity to speak if she desired. See Stamper v.
Commonwealth, 220 Va. 260, 280, 257 S.E.2d 808, 822 (1979).
*
Pursuant to Code § 17-116.010 this opinion is not
designated for publication.
Artis, however, did not request to speak, nor did her counsel
object to the judge’s pronouncement without allocution.
Furthermore, the sentencing order recites the fact that the
judge granted Artis her right to allocution. Artis did not
object to the order within twenty-one days. "Where a defendant
does not object to the accuracy of an order within 21 days after
its entry, an appellate court may ‘presume that the order, as the
final pronouncement on the subject, rather than a transcript that
may be flawed by omissions, accurately reflects what
transpired.’" Kern v. Commonwealth, 2 Va. App. 84, 88, 341
S.E.2d 397, 400 (1986) (quoting Stamper, 220 Va. at 280-81, 257
S.E.2d at 822).
Accordingly, we affirm the conviction.
Affirmed.
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