Hopkins v. Commonwealth

*253BENTON, J.,

joined by BARROW, J., dissenting.

For the reasons stated in the panel’s decision reversing the trial judge’s denial of Hopkins’s motion for a new trial, see Hopkins v. Commonwealth, 19 Va.App. 1, 448 S.E.2d 316 (1994), and for the reasons as further stated in this opinion, I would hold that the trial judge erred in refusing to grant a new trial.

Hopkins was convicted of murder upon the testimony of Janice Talley. Talley testified that at 4:20 a.m. she drove Curtis Kearney to a city street where illegal narcotics are sold. She testified that when Kearney got out of her automobile, she…