Branche v. Commonwealth

COLEMAN, Judge.

In this criminal appeal, the defendant challenges the constitutionality of the statutory scheme found in Code §§ 18.2-29 and 18.2-346.Code § 18.2-29 provides that a person who solicits another to commit a felony, in this case oral sodomy, 1 is guilty of a Class 6 felony. Under Code § 18.2-346, a person who solicits another to commit oral sodomy for money or its equivalent is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. The defendant contends that this statutory scheme violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because it classifies those instances of oral sodomy that…