18 May 2010

Are there automated DMV's somewhere in Virginia?

Well, not the ones I've been to, but apparently some judges on the court of appeals think they are.

In Swanson v. Commonwealth, MAY10, VaApp No. 0163-09-3, a decision addressing the "opened the door" rule of evidence and the "present mental state" exception to hearsay, the court is addressing Defense Counsel's attempt to get some statements in after Prosecutor had elicited a statement from Witness that Defendant had said he went and got a title at DMV.
"Contrary to [Defense Attorney's] assertion, however, [Witness] did not testify that appellant indicated he had spoken to anyone at DMV. Instead, Farmer simply testified that appellant said he 'went to the DMV' – without giving any indication that appellant talked to anyone there."
OMG! Somebody at the appellate court has figured out how to go to the DMV without having to speak with anyone there! How?!? I demand to know how to go to the DMV and not have to talk to at least three people before you can get anything done. Quit holding out on us judge; there's a lot of us who would pay good money to know your secret. Or maybe they have a special automated DMV just for judges . . .

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That'd be so nice if they had that in California. The lines in the DMV can be brutal. And you can't complain for fear of stun guns: http://lawblog.legalmatch.com/2010/04/13/evolution-in-the-law-of-stun-guns/