In Re Com., Commonwealth's Attorney

Invoking our original jurisdiction, the petitioner, Charles R. Watson, Commonwealth’s Attorney of Chesterfield County, petitioned for a writ of mandamus against the respondent, the Honorable William N. Humphries, Jr., Judge of the Circuit Court of Chesterfield County. Va. Const, art. VI, § 1; Code § 17-96. The petition alleges that Judge Humphries convicted Robert Forest Jennings of use of a firearm while committing robbery, a violation of Code § 18.2-53.1, 1 and that, instead of sentencing Jennings as the statute mandated, the judge withheld imposition of sentence for a period of one year.…