Gregory Wiggins v. Commonwealth ( 1996 )

COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA
Present: Judges Baker, Annunziata and Senior Judge Hodges
Argued at Norfolk, Virginia
GREGORY WIGGINS
MEMORANDUM OPINION *
v. Record No. 0846-95-1 BY JUDGE JOSEPH E. BAKER
APRIL 9, 1996
COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA
FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF ACCOMACK COUNTY
Glen A. Tyler, Judge
Thomas L. Northam (Vincent, Northam & Lewis,
on brief), for appellant.
Monica S. McElyea, Assistant Attorney General
(James S. Gilmore, III, Attorney General, on
brief), for appellee.
In this appeal by Gregory Wiggins (appellant) from his bench
trial conviction by the Circuit Court of Accomack County (trial
court), the sole issue presented is whether the evidence is
sufficient to support appellant's conviction of attempted
robbery. We have examined the record in this case and find that
the evidence is sufficient to support his conviction.
As the parties are conversant with the facts, we recite only
those necessary to an understanding of this opinion and view the
facts in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, granting
to it all reasonable inferences fairly deducible therefrom.
Higginbotham v. Commonwealth, 216 Va. 349, 352, 218 S.E.2d 534,
537 (1975).
*
Pursuant to Code § 17-116.010 this opinion is not
designated for publication.
Appellant told the police that he initially intended to
purchase $40 worth of drugs from the victim, but, as the purchase
was in progress, the victim grabbed the $40 and ran away.
Appellant further told the police that he then decided that since
the victim "was robbing me for my money, I may as well rob him
for his cocaine and money." As the victim ran from the scene,
appellant shot him in the leg.
Robbery is not defined by statute in Virginia but, rather,
is a common law crime. The common law defines robbery as "the
taking, with intent to steal, of the personal property of
another, from his person or in his presence, against his will, by
violence or intimidation." Mason v. Commonwealth, 200 Va. 253,
254, 105 S.E.2d 149, 150 (1958). An attempt is an "unfinished
crime . . . composed of . . . the intent to commit the crime and
the doing of some direct act toward its consummation, but falling
short of the accomplishment of the ultimate design." Johnson v.
Commonwealth, 209 Va. 291, 293, 163 S.E.2d 570, 573 (1968).
We hold that the evidence is sufficient to support the
judgment of the trial court and, accordingly, that judgment is
affirmed.
Affirmed.
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