Criminal Defense Lawyer in Virginia Beach

What is the court process like for a misdemeanor charge in Virginia?

Well, it all starts with your paperwork. If you are charged with a criminal misdemeanor in Virginia then you should at some point receive some paperwork, likely served by a police officer. That paperwork should have your identifying information on it, and it should have the exact charge that you are charged with and it should have the alleged offense date of said charge, and it should also have your very first court date and time on it as well. For example, let’s say you were charged with one count of misdemeanor trespassing that allegedly occurred on 7-1-24 in the city of Virginia Beach. At some point you should receive either a summons or warrant for that trespassing charge. On that paperwork it would include your identifying information, it would show that the charge is for misdemeanor trespassing which is usually charged under § VA Code 18.2-119 and it would show that that charge is a class 1 misdemeanor. Lastly, the paperwork should show your first court date. For example, it might say that your first court date is 8-1-24 in Virginia Beach General District Court, Courtroom “E” at 8: 30 am; that first court date would usually be your misdemeanor arraignment.

After the arraignment the case is usually set out to a new date, which is the trial date. For misdemeanors, trial dates are generally set around 1-3 months out from the arraignment. On the trial date, you either plead guilty, not guilty, or no contest. If you plead not guilty, the trial will be heard that day in front of the judge. At the conclusion of the trial the judge will either find you not guilty or guilty. If the Judge finds you not guilty then your matter is fully concluded. If the Judge finds you guilty then they will likely convict you. If you are convicted you may or may not get jail time. If you are found guilty and you do not like the decision then you have 10 days to appeal the decision to the circuit court. If you appeal the misdemeanor decision to the circuit court you get a brand new trial before a circuit court judge and it is a complete do-over. The result on appeal could either be better, or the same, or worse. Generally speaking, if you hire a lawyer for the lower court they are not automatically retained for an appeal; you might have to hire them again for the appeal. If you plead guilty or no contest to the judge then your lawyer can ask the judge for some kind of leniency on the charge. Similar to the above, if you are unsatisfied with the result you may appeal that decision within 10 days to the circuit court as well.  Note: if the misdemeanor is appealed to the circuit court you could do a jury trial on that misdemeanor appeal if you wanted to. In Virginia, there is no jury trial for misdemeanors in the lower courts, but there are jury trials for misdemeanor appeals in the circuit courts. Lastly, if there is a Commonwealth’s Attorney prosecuting the case against you then you might be able to work out a plea deal. If you do a plea deal with the Commonwealth’s Attorney they generally have you agree to waive your appeal as part of the plea deal. If that’s the case then you are generally not allowed to appeal a plea deal where you waived the appeal as part of the deal. Please note that the procedure explained above applies the same to misdemeanors heard in both Juvenile & Domestic Relations Courts as well as General District Courts. Also, the above procedures apply the same to one misdemeanor charge or multiple misdemeanor charges so long as there are no Felonies attached. If even one of your current charges are a felony then see my felony court process page for the correct procedure. Please note, Attorney Matthew Barbero handles all criminal misdemeanors and criminal felonies.

Will a Commonwealth’s Attorney be prosecuting my misdemeanor case?

Will my criminal misdemeanor be heard in JDR court or GDC court ?