Lawyer readies for battle over ‘no insurance card’

‘Lunchtime’ Roadblock Upheld for HO

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 11, 2012
Tags: Judge Robert P. Frank, Traffic Offenses, Virginia Court of Appeals

Although police officers were not told a specific time to operate a traffic checkpoint, but to conduct it at “lunchtime,” the “lunchtime” designation and absence of a maximum duration did not give the officers unbridled discretion that violated the Fourth Amendment, and the Court of Appeals upholds defendant’s conviction of driving as a habitual offender. [...]

Chesterfield hits drunken drivers with a second whack

By Peter Vieth
Published: May 10, 2012
Tags: DUI, General District Courts, Traffic Offenses

Some wayward motorists are getting hit with a double whammy after conviction in traffic court. Local governments, including Chesterfield County, are taking the offenders into civil court to demand reimbursement for the cost of an officer stopping them and writing the ticket. In many cases, the “cost” is a fixed fee of $350, but the [...]

Lawyers react to new tough-on-crime laws

By Peter Vieth
Published: April 12, 2012
Tags: Bar Associations, Criminal, DUI, General Assembly, Traffic Offenses

ROANOKE – Lawyers who ignore the General Assembly should not complain about the new batch of tough-on-crime laws limiting judges’ discretion and creating backlogs in traffic court. That’s one legislator’s reaction to complaints from courthouse lawyers about the 2012 General Assembly. A meeting April 10 of the Roanoke Bar Association offered the latest airing of [...]

Jocks in the Courts

By Paul Fletcher
Published: April 9, 2012
Tags: Contract, Criminal, Domestic Relations, Fairfax County Circuit Court, Federal Courts, Supreme Court of Virginia News, Traffic Offenses, Virginia Court of Appeals News

Pro athletes make lots of money. Their lives are glamorous, if you read the tabloids. But superstars’ lives can be pretty messy, as messy as the lives of the mere mortals who are their fans. And sometimes those messes turn legal. Look in this issue’s Verdicts & Settlements Reports and you’ll find a name usually [...]

Traffic Ordinance Challenge Fails

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 27, 2012
Tags: Charlottesville Circuit Court, Judge Edward Hogshire, Traffic Offenses, Virginia Circuit Courts

Six traffic defendants all charged with driving 50-55 mph in a 35 mph zone on the Route 250 Bypass in Charlottesville cannot avoid conviction by mounting a challenge to how the city of Charlottesville adopted the local ordinance that lowered the speed limit in what would ordinarily be a 55-mph zone, and the Charlottesville Circuit [...]

DUI Upheld for Key in Ignition

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 7, 2012
Tags: Justice Harry L. Carrico, Supreme Court of Virginia, Traffic Offenses

In the latest in a series of cases involving an accused found in a drunken condition in a parked vehicle with the keys in the ignition switch, the Supreme Court adds this case to the list of those allowing conviction for DUI under Va. Code § 18.2-266. Defendant is correct that we have not established [...]

Court Rejects License ‘Revocation’ Claim

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 30, 2012
Tags: Judge William G. Petty, Traffic Offenses, Virginia Court of Appeals

A defendant who was declared a habitual offender in 1993 cannot overturn his 2010 convictions for driving as an HO with a claim that he can’t be convicted under the current version of Va. Code § 46.2-357 because his driver’s license was not actually “revoked” within the meaning of the Code; the Court of Appeals [...]

Driver could clean up record

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 12, 2012
Tags: Fairfax County Circuit Court, Judge Lorraine Nordlund, Traffic Offenses

A defendant who pleaded guilty to a reduced traffic charge could have the more serious charge expunged from his record, a Fairfax Circuit Court has ruled. Virginia’s statute on expungement of records, Virginia Code § 19.2-392.2(A), prescribes certain rules. If a person is acquitted of a crime, if a nolle prosequi is taken, or if [...]

A charge that’s not a crime

By Peter Vieth
Published: December 19, 2011
Tags: General District Courts, Traffic Offenses

Virginia drivers are being charged and convicted of an offense that is not a crime under state law: driving without proof of insurance. The General Assembly has debated the issue at least three times, but in each instance, a bill to require drivers to carry an insurance card or other proof of insurance has failed. [...]