Harrell v. Commonwealth

Opinion

COLEMAN, J.

Robert Cecil Harrell was convicted in a bench trial for malicious assault and battery while acting as a member of a mob, in violation of Code § 18.2-41. He was sentenced to seven years in the penitentiary. He contends that the evidence was insufficient to prove that he and the people involved in the fray constituted a “mob” as defined in Code § 18.2-38, which requires that the group be “assembled for the purpose and with the intention of committing an assault or a battery.” We find that the circumstantial evidence failed to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the group…