Evans v. Commonwealth

The trial court entered judgment on the jury’s verdict finding Everett Evans, Sr., guilty of attempted murder of the first degree and fixing punishment at nine years in the penitentiary. Evans challenges the instruction which told the jury that the offense is punishable “by confinement in the penitentiary for not less than one (1) nor more than twenty (20) years.”

Code § 18.1-16 (Repl. Vol. 1960) provides in part:

“Every person who attempts to commit an offense which is punishable with death, shall be confined in the penitentiary not less than one nor more than twenty years . . . .” (Emphasis…