Six Month Jail Sentence Nullified on Appeal, in Lynchburg

From the Lynchburg's Prosecutor office:


On April 25, 2005, Luiza Dasilva Caguana was convicted in the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court of assaulting her daughter with a knife. Judge William Light sentenced Ms. Caguana to 180 days in jail. Ms. Caguana appealed this conviction to Circuit Court.
On August 2, 2005, Ms. Caguana appeared in Circuit Court for a new trial. During the trial, Officer J.J. Rater of the Lynchburg Police Department testified that he spoke to the defendant soon after the incident. Officer Rater testified that the defendant made some claims that she had needed to defend herself from her daughter. However, the defendant also stated to Officer Rater that she held a knife over her daughter’s head and declared, “God forgive me, you don’t deserve to live!” The defendant’s daughter, the victim of this crime, testified that she never threatened or touched her mother during the course of the incident.
At the end of the trial, Judge Leyburn Mosby ruled that the Commonwealth had presented enough evidence against Ms. Caguana to support a conviction for assault. However, Judge Mosby declined to find Ms. Caguana guilty at this time. Instead, he took the matter under advisement for a period of 12 months. Judge Mosby will dismiss the charge at that time if the defendant is of good behavior.


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