Hope v. Commonwealth

In Hope v. Commonwealth, 10 Va. App. 381, 386, 392 S.E.2d 830, 834 (1990), the defendant fell while fleeing from the police. They found a loaded gun near the spot where he fell. The defendant possessed recently stolen property, but no evidence indicated that the burglary was accomplished by force. However, the evidence which proved that he possessed a gun was admissible because the defendant's conduct "is an important factor in the estimate of the weight of circumstances which point to his guilt." Hope, 10 Va. App. at 385-86, 392 S.E.2d at 833. The "'combined force of many concurrent and related circumstances, each insufficient in itself, may lead a reasonable mind irresistibly to a conclusion.'" Id. at 386, 392 S.E.2d at 833.