Commonwealth v. Holland

Present: All the Justices COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA OPINION BY v. Record No. 230907 JUSTICE THOMAS P. MANN JANUARY 16, 2025 TANYA RASHAE HOLLAND FROM THE COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA Appellate courts are a court of review, not first view. When evaluating factual or credibility determinations, we do not put ourselves in the shoes of a trial judge and ask, “What would we have done?” Rather, we are confined to a cold record, with its attendant absence of the evidentiary nuances and subtleties observed only by the trial court. Still, we are not automatons, and may unsurprisingly feel the tug of…