Debra Ann Wilson v Commonwealth of Virginia

COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA
Present: 	Judges Elder, Annunziata and Lemons∗
Argued at Alexandria, Virginia
DEBRA ANN WILSON
MEMORANDUM OPINION∗∗ BY
v. 	Record No. 2061-98-4 	JUDGE DONALD W. LEMONS
MAY 2, 2000
COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA
FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY
Frank A. Hoss, Jr., Judge
Robert B. Beasley, Jr. (LeClair Ryan, on
brief), for appellant.
Eugene Murphy, Assistant Attorney General
(Mark L. Earley, Attorney General, on brief),
for appellee.
∗ Justice Lemons prepared and the Court adopted the opinion
in this case prior to his investiture as a Justice of the
Supreme Court of Virginia.
∗∗ Pursuant to Code § 17.1-413, recodifying Code
§ 17-116.010, this opinion is not designated for publication.
Debra Ann Wilson appeals her conviction for election fraud
in violation of Code § 24.2-1016. 	On appeal, she argues that
the evidence was insufficient to support her conviction because
it failed to prove that she made a willfully false statement on
her voter registration form and, even if the evidence did prove
that she made such a statement, it did not prove that the voter
registration form was the form required by Title 24.2. 	Finding
no error, we affirm.

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I. 	BACKGROUND
In January of 1997, Wilson lived in an apartment complex on
Midsummer Lane in Woodbridge, Virginia, a residence in the 13th
State House District. 	Between January 14, 1997 and June 24,
1997, Wilson received six monthly electric bills at that
residence showing usage amounts of 893 kilowatt hours, 713
hours, 822 hours, 668 hours, 674 hours and 325 hours,
respectively. 	In early May, one of Wilson's children was sent
home when the school's electricity went out and the child was
seen at this residence by the property manager. 	On June 19th or
20th, Wilson told the property manager that she planned to move
out that weekend and wrote him a letter dated June 20th
confirming these plans. 	The property manager informed her that
there was a sixty-day notice requirement and held her
responsible for rent until July 30th.
On April 11, 1997, Wilson signed and submitted to the
Prince William County Voter Registration Elections Office an
"Appointment of Campaign Treasurer" form in which she claimed to
be living in a townhouse on Beale Court in Dale City, Virginia,
a residence in the 51st House District. 	After that office
notified her that she was registered as living in the 13th
District, Wilson signed and submitted a new voter registration
form later that day stating that she was living at the residence
in the 51st District.

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Also on April 11, 1997, Wilson applied to the Northern
Virginia Electric Cooperative for electrical service at the
Beale Court residence. 	On April 14th, the home was connected
and Wilson's May electric bill for that residence showed 25
kilowatt hours used over 14 days. 	Wilson's subsequent electric
bills showed usage amounts of 28 kilowatt hours in June, 27
hours in July, 240 hours in August, 48 hours in September and
509 hours in October. 	Between April 16 and June 12, Wilson was
billed for using 1,000 gallons of water at this residence.
On July 11, 1997, Wilson changed her address on her
driver's license to the Beale Court address. 	Sometime after the
20th of August, Wilson and two of her three daughters used a
U-Haul truck to move their belongings to the Beale Court address
and began staying there on a nightly basis. 	On August 26, 1997,
Wilson filled out transfer request forms for her children and
notified the two daughters' schools that the family was no
longer living at the Midsummer Lane address and had moved to the
Beale Court residence.
On November 3, 1997, Wilson was indicted by a grand jury on
one count of election fraud. 	At trial, an employee of the
electric company powering the Midsummer Lane residence testified
that the usage amounts shown on Wilson's electric bills between
May and late June were consistent with people living at that
location. 	An employee of the electric company providing power
to the Beale Court address testified that Wilson's electric

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bills between May and July showed "extremely low usage" and were
not consistent with people living at that address. 	An employee
of the Virginia American Water Company testified that Wilson's
water bill for the Beale Court address showed a usage amount
inconsistent with a family of three living there. 	An employee
of the Prince William County Voter Registration Elections Office
testified that the Midsummer Lane residence was located in the
13th District and that the Beale Court residence was located in
the 51st District. 	On March 10, 1998, a jury convicted Wilson
of election fraud.
II. 	ELECTION FRAUD
A candidate for election in a primary must be qualified to
vote in the primary in which he or she seeks to be a candidate.
See Code § 24.2-519. 	To be qualified to vote in the specific
primary, the person must "register to vote as provided in this
chapter" and once registered "shall be entitled to vote in the
precinct where he resides." 	Code § 24.2-400. 	Applicants for
registration "shall provide, subject to felony penalties for
making false statements pursuant to § 24.2-1016, the information
necessary to complete the application to register." 	Code
§ 24.2-418. 	"The form of the application to register shall
require the applicant to provide . . . [an] address of residence
in the precinct . . . ." 	Id. 	Code § 24.2-1016 provides in
pertinent part, "Any willfully false material statement or entry
made by any person in any statement, form, or report required by

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this title" constitutes "the crime of election fraud." 	Pursuant
to that chapter, the State Board of Elections must provide for
the continuing operation and maintenance of a central
record-keeping system (the "Virginia Voter Registration System")
for all voters registered in the Commonwealth and, among other
things, must "provide to each general registrar, voter
registration cards for newly registered voters and for notice to
registered voters on the system of changes and corrections in
their registration records." 	Code § 24.2-404.
Plainly, pursuant to Virginia Code, a voter registration
card must be filed in order to establish the qualification to
vote. 	Plainly, qualification to vote in the primary in which a
person seeks to be a candidate is necessary to qualify as a
candidate. 	Therefore, a voter registration card is a
"statement, form or report required by [Title 24.2]." 	Code
§ 24.2-1016.
The form utilized by Wilson which is the subject of this
prosecution, was repeatedly referred to by witnesses and counsel
as a "Voter Registration form." 	Ms. Green, who was employed by
the Prince William County Voter Registration Elections Office
testified that Wilson told her on April 11th that she had the
"form" to fill out, that Green should "make [Wilson] on [their]
books at the address that's [sic] she's currently at . . ." and
that Wilson would fill it out and get it to Green's office that
day. 	Green then testified that Wilson filed the new Voter

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Registration form that day by courier. 	Green stated, "we had
the whole application" and indicated that it was then made into
"what goes into the filing." 	When Green was asked again whether
she received a new Voter Registration form from Wilson, she
responded, "A complete one" and "the one that I got on April
11th." 	Asked if she had any other contact with Wilson after
receiving the voter registration form, Green answered, "After we
received it? 	No." 	Defense counsel asked Green if she spoke
with Wilson personally concerning "the form" and asked whether
Green reviewed "the form" with Wilson. 	Green responded, "[N]o.
[Wilson] just said she had the form". 	Defense counsel, during a
bench conference, referred to the Commonwealth's exhibits as
"the registration forms." 	The Commonwealth's attorney
introduced the form into evidence as "the Voter Registration
application . . . in the attached way it came in."
In reference to the first card she filled out, Wilson
herself stated "I filled out the card that you mail to
Richmond." 	She later referred to the second card she sent as
her "registration form to vote." 	She testified that the "form
that [she] signed on April 11[th]" indicated what she thought
was her home address at that time. 	When asked to identify the
form, Wilson stated, "That is my voter registration
application." 	She testified that it was the one she signed and
had forwarded to the Prince William registrar's office. 	The

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second card is the subject of this prosecution and is identical
in form to the first.
The evidence is sufficient to establish directly or by
inference that the "card that you mail to Richmond" and the
"registration form to vote" is the form required to be filed in
order to qualify to vote pursuant to Code §§ 24.2-400 and -404.
Furthermore, it follows from reading Code §§ 24.2-418 and -1016
together that Wilson, at the very least, made a "statement" and
that the "statement" was "required" under the relevant title.
With respect to whether the evidence was sufficient to
demonstrate that Wilson lived in the 13th District when she
filled out the form in April stating that she lived in the 51st
District, we consider the record "'in the light most favorable
to the Commonwealth, giving it all reasonable inferences fairly
deducible therefrom. 	In so doing, we must discard the evidence
of the accused in conflict with that of the Commonwealth and
regard as true all the credible evidence favorable to the
Commonwealth . . . .'" 	Watkins v. Commonwealth, 26 Va. App.
335, 348, 494 S.E.2d 859, 866 (1998) (citation omitted). 	The
credibility of the witnesses, the weight accorded testimony, and
the inferences to be drawn from proven facts are matters to be
determined by the fact finder. 	See Long v. Commonwealth, 8 Va.
App. 194, 199, 379 S.E.2d 473, 476 (1989) (citation omitted).
At trial, the Commonwealth introduced substantial testimony
and documentary evidence that Wilson had continued to live at

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the Midsummer Lane residence long after she stated on the voter
registration form dated April 11, 1997 that she was living at
the Beale Court address. 	The evidence included records showing
electricity and water usage, records from the Department of
Motor Vehicles and school records. 	Additionally, the property
manager of the Midsummer Lane residence testified that Wilson
moved out in June of 1997. 	On June 19th or 20th, Wilson called
the property manager and informed him that she was moving out of
the residence that weekend. 	She also confirmed her plans in a
letter dated June 20, 1997. 	As a result of her late notice she
remained obligated to pay rent until July 30, 1997. 	It was not
until August of 1997 that Wilson moved her belongings into her
new residence or stayed there "on a nightly basis."
Furthermore, an employee of the Prince William County Voter
Registration Elections Office testified that the residence
located on Midsummer Lane was located in the 13th State House
District and that the residence located on Beale Court was in
the 51st District.
The evidence was sufficient to support the jury's verdict
that Wilson made "a false material statement" on the voter
registration card required to be filed by Title 24.2 in order
for her to be a candidate for office in the primary in question.
III. 	CONCLUSION
Because the determination of whether a voter registration
form is required by Title 24.2 is a matter of law and because

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the evidence is sufficient to establish that the form utilized
in this case was the form required by Title 24.2 and because the
evidence was sufficient to prove that Wilson made a willfully
false statement in violation of Code § 24.2-1016, we affirm the
conviction.
Affirmed.

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Elder, J., dissenting.
I have no material disagreement with the majority's legal
conclusion that the voter registration form appellant filed was
one required by Title 24.2. 	Critically, however, neither the
instructions given the jury nor the evidence offered at trial
permitted the jury to conclude that the voter registration form
appellant filed was a "statement, form, or report required by
[Title 24.2]," as charged in the indictment and required by Code
§ 24.2-1016. 	I would hold the evidence in this case was
insufficient to support appellant's conviction for violating
Code § 24.2-1016. 	Therefore, I respectfully dissent.
Here, the jury was instructed that it should find appellant
guilty of election fraud if the evidence proved beyond a
reasonable doubt that appellant "made a willfully false material
statement or entry" and that it was "made on a form or report
required by law." 	The jury was not instructed, as required by
the statute and contained in the indictment, that the form had
to be one required by a specific law, Title 24.2. 	Further, the
jury was not instructed that appellant had to be registered to
vote in the district or precinct in which she was running for
office. 	Finally, the evidence did not establish either of these
requirements.
County Voter Registration and Elections employee Donna
Green testified that her job was to confirm voter registration
information for candidates running for elected office. 	On April

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11, 1997, the deadline for the filing of forms for candidates
running in the June primary, Green received appellant's
appointment of campaign treasurer form. 	That form indicated
appellant was filing as a candidate for the House of Delegates
in the 51st House District and listed an address on Beale Court,
which was located in the 51st House District. 	However, Green
determined that appellant was not registered to vote at that
address. 	Instead, she was registered to vote at an address on
Midsummer Lane, which was located in a different house district.
Upon discovering this fact, Green notified appellant that April
11, 1997, that very day, "was the final day to register, or to
change any addresses for filing for candidates" and that
appellant "should get her address correct for the file since she
was filing as a candidate in the 51st [House District]."
Although Green suggested that appellant "should" file a new
voter registration form, no evidence established that the form
appellant filed was a "statement, form, or report required by
[Title 24.2]." 	Green testified that her "duty is . . . to check
the candidate to be sure the candidate is registered to vote in
the county." 	(Emphasis added). 	Green did not testify that
appellant had to be registered in the house district in which
she was running. 	When Green began her investigation, she found
two Debra A. Wilsons registered to vote in the county, but
neither listed a Beale Court address, so she could not determine
whether either one was appellant. 	Green "needed to find out

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whether or not the Debra A. Wilson filing the treasurer's form
was either of the Debra A. Wilsons registered to vote in the
county." 	Prior to filing the challenged form, appellant was, in
fact, registered to vote in the county. 	Language on the voter
registration form appellant filed on April 11, 1997 provided
that "[i]ntentionally making a materially false statement on
this form constitutes the crime of election fraud," but this
language fails to establish that the form was one required by
Title 24.2 or any other law.
Further, no evidence established that the appointment of
campaign treasurer form was a form that was required to be filed
by Title 24.2. 	Green testified that April 11, 1997 was the last
day for the filing of such forms for the June primary. 	However,
no evidence established that filing the form was a necessity,
and language on the form itself indicated that "[a] candidate
who fails to file this form is considered his own Treasurer."
For these reasons, I would hold the evidence was
insufficient to prove that the voter registration form on which
appellant allegedly made a willfully false statement was a form
required by Title 24.2. 	I would reverse and dismiss appellant's
conviction for election fraud without reaching the issue of
whether she made a willfully false statement. 	Therefore, I
dissent.