Virginia Appeals Court to Prosecutors: Try Telling Us Where the Crime Happened Next Time

Written by: Sam Orlando

WARREN COUNTY, VA — In a plot twist worthy of a courtroom sitcom, the Virginia Court of Appeals has reversed a man's drug possession conviction—not because he didn’t have fentanyl, but because prosecutors forgot one tiny legal detail: proving that the alleged crime happened anywhere in particular.

Cal Byren Kilby, convicted last year of possessing fentanyl after a traffic stop in Warren County, has successfully appealed his conviction. The reason? The Commonwealth never actually proved that Warren County had anything to do with the case—other than employing the officers involved.

Yes, the trial had witnesses. Yes, there was lab-tested fentanyl. Yes, there was even a sniffer dog. But what it didn’t have, according to Judge Vernida Chaney’s April 29 ruling, was venue. That’s legal-speak for proving that the alleged crime actually took place in the jurisdiction where the trial was held.

Apparently, telling the jury that the officers work in Warren County, and that the word “Warren” appeared once on a lab form, wasn’t quite the slam dunk the prosecution hoped it would be.

“Venue is not a substantive element of a crime,” the court generously noted, “but you still have to prove it.” Revolutionary concept, we know.

In their defense, prosecutors suggested the judge could simply “take judicial notice” that Happy Creek Road and Robinson’s Grocery are in Warren County. The judge, perhaps too stunned to respond, said nothing on the record—and the prosecution’s case quietly collapsed under the weight of assumption.

In a ruling that cited a 1922 case—yes, 1922—the Court reminded everyone that courts still require more than vibes and vague geographic gestures when deciding someone’s fate.

The conviction has now been reversed and the case sent back for a possible retrial. That is, if the Commonwealth is up for a second attempt—with a map this time.

Kilby, for now, is free of the conviction. Though the drugs were real, and the dog was good, it turns out that even the strongest case can go up in smoke if no one bothers to prove where the smoke happened.