COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA
Present: Chief Judge Fitzpatrick, Judges Bumgardner and Humphreys
Argued at Richmond, Virginia
DAVID MICHAEL FRICKE
MEMORANDUM OPINION * BY
v. Record No. 0035-01-2 CHIEF JUDGE JOHANNA L. FITZPATRICK
NOVEMBER 13, 2001
COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA
FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF CHESTERFIELD COUNTY
Buford M. Parsons, Jr., Judge Designate
(Eddie R. Vaughn; Steven M. Marks; Law Office
of Eddie R. Vaughn, on brief), for appellant.
Appellant submitting on brief.
Marla Graff Decker, Assistant Attorney
General (Randolph A. Beales, Acting Attorney
General, on brief), for appellee.
David Michael Fricke (appellant) was convicted of obstruction
of justice, in violation of Code § 18.2-460(A). Appellant
contends the police did not have probable cause to detain him and
the evidence was insufficient to convict him of obstruction of
justice. Because appellant's arguments are procedurally barred by
Rule 5A:18, we affirm.
I. BACKGROUND
Officers Thomas O. McCullough and Christopher Hugate of the
Chesterfield County Police Department responded to a report of a
trespasser at a 7-Eleven store. An employee of the store
* Pursuant to Code § 17.1-413, this opinion is not
designated for publication.
identified appellant as the trespasser and told the officers that
appellant had been notified that he was banned from the property.
The officers approached appellant and attempted to talk to him.
Appellant responded with "explicatives [sic]," refused to tell the
officers his name or produce identification, and when questioned
further tried to leave the store. Appellant then bumped into
McCullough "chest to chest" and McCullough grabbed appellant's
left arm. Appellant swung at McCullough and hit him twice in the
shoulder. An altercation ensued. The officers managed to put
appellant face down on the ground where he continued to kick and
spit and attempted to escape. About ten minutes later, additional
officers arrived, and appellant was arrested.
Appellant testified at trial that he received a phone call
from someone who identified himself as a police officer and told
him he was banned from the 7-Eleven. Appellant thought his
estranged girlfriend was playing a trick on him, and he returned
to the store to find out the truth.
Appellant failed to make a motion to strike the evidence as
insufficient at the end of the Commonwealth's case or at the end
of the trial. Appellant also failed to raise at trial any
allegation that the police did not have probable cause to detain
him. The trial court found appellant guilty of obstruction of
justice.
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II. ANALYSIS
"The Court of Appeals will not consider an argument on
appeal which was not presented to the trial court." Ohree v.
Commonwealth, 26 Va. App. 299, 308, 494 S.E.2d 484, 488 (1998).
See Rule 5A:18. 1
In the instant case, appellant failed to raise before the
trial court either a lack of probable cause to arrest or whether
the evidence was sufficient to convict him of obstruction of
justice. Thus, he is barred from raising those issues for the
first time on appeal.
Further, the record sets forth no reason for us to apply the
"ends of justice" exception to the application of Rule 5A:18.
Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.
Affirmed.
1
Rule 5A:18 provides:
No ruling of the trial court . . . will be
considered as a basis for reversal unless
the objection was stated together with the
grounds therefor at the time of the ruling,
except for good cause shown or to enable the
Court of Appeals to attain the ends of
justice. A mere statement that the judgment
or award is contrary to the law and the
evidence is not sufficient to constitute a
question to be ruled upon on appeal.
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