Laura Moellar, s/k/a Laura Ann Moeller v. CW

COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA
Present: Judges Bray, Clements and Senior Judge Hodges
Argued at Chesapeake, Virginia
LAURA MOELLAR, S/K/A
LAURA ANN MOELLER
MEMORANDUM OPINION * BY
v. Record No. 2896-99-1 JUDGE WILLIAM H. HODGES
OCTOBER 3, 2000
COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA
FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF VIRGINIA BEACH
Kenneth N. Whitehurst, Jr., Judge
Robert Gray Morecock (Shuttleworth, Ruloff &
Giordano, P.C., on brief), for appellant.
(Mark L. Earley, Attorney General; Steven A.
Witmer, Assistant Attorney General, on
brief), for appellee.
Appellant was convicted of three counts of distribution of
Xanax, a Schedule IV controlled substance, to her minor children
in violation of Code § 18.2-255(A)(i). On appeal, appellant
contends that the evidence was insufficient to support the
convictions. Appellant argues that the Commonwealth failed to
corroborate her statement to the police in which she admitted that
she administered Xanax to her children. We disagree and affirm.
In a statement to Detective P. O'Hagan, appellant admitted
she gave Xanax in orange juice to each of her three children.
Appellant admitted giving her oldest child a whole tablet, and
* Pursuant to Code § 17.1-413, recodifying Code
§ 17-116.010, this opinion is not designated for publication.
giving her two younger children a half tablet to make them drowsy.
Appellant's oldest child stated that appellant gave her a
"bluish/purple pill" in orange juice. Appellant's middle child
stated that appellant gave him a gray pill in orange juice and
told him that the pill "would make him sleepy and take things off
his mind." Appellant's youngest child stated that appellant gave
him a tablet that tasted "yucky." Appellant testified that she
had a prescription for Xanax, but that the pills were white.
Appellant also testified that she was not sure what drug she gave
to her children.
"A conviction cannot be based solely on the uncorroborated
statement of a person that a crime has occurred and that he
committed it. The corpus delicti cannot be established by a
confession of the accused uncorroborated by any other evidence."
Hamm v. Commonwealth, 16 Va. App. 150, 157, 428 S.E.2d 517, 522
(1993). However, "[w]here 'the commission of the crime has been
fully confessed by the accused, only slight corroborative
evidence is necessary to establish the corpus delicti.'"
Jefferson v. Commonwealth, 6 Va. App. 421, 424, 369 S.E.2d 212,
214 (1988) (citation omitted).
Appellant told O'Hagan that she gave Xanax to her children in
orange juice. Appellant also told O'Hagan the specific amount of
Xanax that she gave to each child. Appellant said that she knew
that the dosage of Xanax that she gave the children would not harm
them, but would make them drowsy. The testimony of the children
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was that appellant gave them pills mixed with orange juice.
Appellant admitted that she had a prescription for Xanax for
anxiety, which was consistent with her statement to her middle
child that the drug "would make him sleepy and take things off his
mind." Appellant's confession was sufficiently corroborated by
the children's statements. The Commonwealth's evidence was
competent, was not inherently incredible, and was sufficient to
prove beyond a reasonable doubt that appellant was guilty of three
counts of distribution of Xanax, a Schedule IV controlled
substance, to her minor children in violation of Code
§ 18.2-255(A)(i).
Affirmed.
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