"I don't understand why you keep making this Motion to Strike when the Judge had already heard from the eyewitnesses."

The Rules of Procedure in the Virginia Courts are complicated and filled with traps and boobytraps for the unwary. There is not even a collection of "Rules" all in one place to just go look them all up. One specific instance of such a trap s the Motion to Strike, which must be made at the conclusion of the prosecutor's case-in-chief and again at the conclusion of all the evidence in the case.

If a defendant introduces evidence on his own behalf after the trial court overrules his motion to strike at the conclusion of the plaintiff’s case in chief, the defendant waives his right to stand upon such original motion. This is because the evidence has changed, with the addition of that evidence which the defense admitted, so the Judge has not yet ruled on all the evidence. A renewed Motion to Strike must be made to challenge all the evidence before the Court.

For instance, one of the worst outcomes of failing to make and renew a Motion to Strike is that a defendant is barred on appeal from challenging the sufficiency of the evidence when he fails to renew his challenge to the evidence after presenting his own case.

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