A VIRGINIA BEACH DUI
MOVES QUICKLY
A first-offense DUI in Virginia is a Class 1 misdemeanor under § 18.2-266, carrying a mandatory license suspension, a fine, and referral to the Virginia Alcohol Safety Action Program. Here it is arraigned in the Virginia Beach General District Court, and the stretch between arrest and that first appearance is where the productive work sits — the grounds for the stop, the way the field sobriety tests were administered, and the calibration history of the breath instrument.
Reckless driving is the charge most often underestimated. Under § 46.2-862 it is no traffic ticket. Twenty above the posted limit, or anything from eighty-five upwards whatever the limit happens to be, is a criminal misdemeanor that appears on a record an employer can read.
Both charges bring a second tier of consequence that goes unmentioned at the roadside. Whether a security clearance holds. Whether the drive to Oceana or Little Creek holds. Whether a commercial license, and the job attached to it, holds. In this city those are usually the genuine stakes, and they are the questions we address on the first day rather than at sentencing.
WHAT WE GO LOOKING FOR
WHAT COMES AFTER
A VIRGINIA BEACH ARREST
Most of the people who contact us have never faced this before. Broadly: a magistrate sets bond, an arraignment follows in the General District Court, and then either a trial date in that court or — where the reading was high, there is a prior offense, or somebody was hurt — a matter that moves up to the Circuit Court.
Ahead of each of those stages there is a period in which something worthwhile can be done, and each of them closes. Lodging the discovery request. Securing the calibration and maintenance history for the instrument that produced the reading. Reaching a witness while the recollection is still sound. The time cannot be recovered later.
One of our attorneys spent four years as an Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney. He knows which files the Commonwealth is privately uneasy about, and what a reduction in this court ordinarily requires. That is a practical advantage, not a relational one.
IN VIRGINIA BEACH
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41,000+
criminal and traffic clients represented since 1995
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2
offices in the city, on Haygood Road and in Kempsville
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65+
years practicing in Hampton Roads courts
BEFORE YOUR FIRST APPEARANCE
Tell us what the charge puts at risk — the clearance, the license, the job. Free, confidential, any hour — 757-622-3317.