Dowdy v. Commonwealth

Charged with shooting “into a certain dwelling house . . . whereby the life of the occupant . . . was ... put in peril” in violation of Code § 18.2-279 and with sending “an inscribed communication containing a threat to kill or do bodily injury” in violation of Code § 18.2-60, John Henry Dowdy, Jr., was convicted by a jury of both charges and, by final judgment order entered May 16,1978, sentenced to the penitentiary for terms of four years and one year, respectively, the terms to run consecutively. We granted a writ of error limited to certain errors assigned to the shooting conviction.

Defend…