Barrett v. Commonwealth

SENIOR JUSTICE WHITING

delivered the opinion of the Court.

In this appeal, we review a trial court’s denial of a defendant’s motion to strike a prospective juror for cause. The prospective juror’s brother, a police officer, was a witness for the Commonwealth in a case involving two consolidated criminal charges.

Calvin Lee Barrett, the defendant, was operating an automobile in the City of Charlottesville with an expired license tag and a broken left rear tail light lens when his vehicle was observed and stopped by Virginia State Trooper Joseph S. Fleming. As soon as the defendant stopped his…