Keeter v. Commonwealth

The trial court, sitting without a jury, convicted Walter Lee Keeter, Jr., and Bernard Thomas Bray of possessing marijuana with the intent to distribute and of distributing marijuana in violation of Code § 18.2-248, and sentenced them to serve five years in the penitentiary on each charge, the sentences to run concurrently. We granted an appeal limited to the question whether the court erred in failing to determine that there were no exigent circumstances to justify the warrantless entry by police officers into the dwelling for which a search warrant was subsequently issued.

Prior to trial,…