Severance v. Commonwealth

OPINION BY JUSTICE D. ARTHUR KELSEY

A jury found Charles Stanard Severance guilty of murdering three residents of Alexandria, Virginia. Severance received a separate punishment for each murder. He appealed to the Court of Appeals, arguing that two of his three punishments violated the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. The Court of Appeals disagreed. See Severance v. Commonwealth , 67 Va.App. 629, 799 S.E.2d 329 (2017). Severance now repeats that argument before this Court.1 We likewise disagree and affirm.

I

In December 2003, Severance…