Pro-se Prosecution in Virginia by Henry H. Perritt Jr. Virginia law permits any private citi-zen to obtain an arrest warrant when he or she can convince the magistrate that probable cause exists to believe that a crime has been committed and that the subject of the arrest warrant committed it. Misdemeanor warrants can be obtained without any involvement by law-enforcement agencies or common-wealth’s attorneys. 1 But what happens after the defendant is arrested? In many places in Virginia, misdemean-ors are prosecuted not by commonwealth’s attorneys, but by city or county attorneys, police officers, private criminal complain-ants, or rarely, by private attorneys appoint-ed as special prosecutors. Practice varies considerably around the Commonwealth. The commonwealth’s attorney prosecutes all cases in the Henrico General District Court, according to Chief Judge John K. Honey. In Wise County, the previous commonwealth’s attorney did not prosecute misdemeanor cases, but the present incumbent does. A 23rd District General District Court Judge said, “The Commonwealth appears on every matter prosecuted in our courts, including traffic infractions. It would not be my preference to have a citizen prosecute their own mis-demeanor complaint.” On the other hand, Jacqueline P. Brubaker, general district court clerk in Franklin County, said police officers and complainants usually appear alone, unless the defendant is represented by coun-sel or unless many witnesses need to be questioned, and she said it has worked fine for over 20 years. The Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney’s website enu-merates the types of misdemeanors that the office will prosecute and said misdemean-or cases not listed will be prosecuted “by other means.” 2 And “[t]he Virginia Beach Commonwealth Attorney’s Office is not involved in prosecuting most misdemeanor offenses.” 3 Whether commonwealth’s attorneys should handle misdemeanor cases in gen-eral district court spilled over into public view in Chesterfield County, 4 where the commonwealth’s attorney announced that he would stop handling cases in General District Court and relented only after the county board of supervisors voted to fund additional prosecutor positions. 5 Virginia law does not require com-monwealth’s attorneys to appear in misde-meanor cases. When they do not appear, 30 VIRGINIA LAWYER | DECEMBER 2020 | VOL. 69 | GENERAL INTEREST www.vsb.org
Issue Articles
Pro-Se Prosecution In Virginia
Henry H. Perritt Jr
Visit Article: https://virginialawyer.vsb.org/article/Pro-Se+Prosecution+In+Virginia/3818805/684193/article.html.