Claris Law Legal Blogging Community

Name:

E-mail:

Phone Number:

Zip Code:

Your Question:

Editor: Bob Battle
Profession: DUI Defense Lawyer

Category: Virginia Reckless Driving/Speeding

In Cross v. Commonwealth, decided Tuesday, the Virginia Court of Appeals, in extending the holding of a November 2006 ruling of the Virginia Supreme Court (Moore v Commonwealth) requiring that a motorist charged with Driving on a Suspended License be issued a Summons and released, ruled that a motorist who was being placed under arrest for Driving on a Suspended License committed no offense when he resisted arrest and fled. Virginia law allows an individual to use reasonable force to resist an unlawful arrest. The motorist was found to be in possession of cocaine and also charged with misdemeanor obstruction of justice.

The Court of Appeals reversed the defendant's conviction for possession of cocaine pursuant to Moore and held that his intended conditional plea to the obstruction charge, although not allowed for misdemeanors, rendered his plea of guilty invalid and allowed the defendant to withdraw his guilty plea. A "conditional plea of guilty" means that an accused is pleading guilty with the understanding that he is appealing a legal issue in the case. Virginia law only allows these conditional pleas for felony allegations. Click here to read the full Court of Appeals opinion in Cross v. Commonwealth

In November 2006, in the case of Moore v Commonwealth, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled, in a drug prosecution of a driver arrested for Driving on a Suspended License, that the violation of the requirement under Virginia Code § 19.2-74 that police issue a Summons to a person detained for a Class 1 misdemeanor and forthwith release him from custody upon his promise to appear at a specified time and place, rendered the fruits of a later search of the individual unconstitutional.

The Virginia Supreme Court held that the Fourth Amendment forbids expansion of the search incident to arrest doctrine to include a search incident to citation. The judgment of the Court of Appeals upholding his conviction was reversed and the charges were dismissed.