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2004 SESSION
040030328Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 18.2-57.3 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 18.2-57.3. Persons charged with first offense of assault and battery against a family or household member may be placed on probation; conditions; education and treatment programs; costs and fees; violations; discharge.
When a person who is no younger than 18 years of age or who is considered an
adult at the time of conviction the proceeding and who has not previously been
convicted of any offense under this article or under any statute of the United
States or of any state or any ordinance of any local government relating to
assault and battery against a family or household member or has not previously
had a proceeding against him for violation of such an offense dismissed as
provided in this section, pleads guilty to or enters a plea of not guilty to a
violation of § 18.2-57.2, the court, upon such plea if the facts found by the
court would justify a finding of guilt, without entering a judgment of guilt
and with the consent of the accused, may defer further proceedings and place
him on probation upon terms and conditions.
As a term or condition, the court [ may shall ] , where assessment or
evaluation services are available, require the accused to be screened,
assessed, or evaluated and, with or without any evaluation, may
based on the results of the assessment or evaluation, require the accused
to enter an education or treatment program indicated by the assessment or
evaluation, if available. The court, when assessment or evaluation services are
not available, may require education or treatment services such as, in the
opinion of the court, may be best suited to the needs of the accused.
The court shall require the person entering such education or treatment program
under the provisions of this section to pay all or part of the costs of the
program, including the costs of any screening assessment, evaluation, testing,
education and treatment, based upon the accused's ability to pay unless the person is determined by
the court to be indigent.
Following the finding of facts that would justify a finding of guilt, the court
[ shall may ] order the defendant be placed in a local community-based
probation program established pursuant to Article 9 (§ 9.1-173 et seq.) of
Chapter 1 of Title 9.1, if such program is available. As a condition of local
community-based probation, if such probation is available, the court shall
require the accused to successfully complete all treatment and/or education programs
required by the assessment or evaluation and to be of good behavior during
the period of supervised probation and for a period of not less than two years
following the completion of probation. The court shall further order the
defendant to be of good behavior for a period of not less than two years following the finding
of facts that would justify a finding of guilt when no supervised probation is
ordered.
The court shall, unless done at arrest, order the accused to report to the original arresting law-enforcement agency to submit to fingerprinting.
Upon violation of a term or condition of supervised probation or of the period
of good behavior, the court [ may shall ] enter an adjudication of guilt and
proceed as otherwise provided. Upon fulfillment of the terms and conditions,
the court shall discharge the person and dismiss the proceedings against him.
Discharge and dismissal under this section shall be without adjudication of
guilt and is a conviction only for the purposes of applying this section in
subsequent proceedings. As such, no charges dismissed pursuant to this section
shall be eligible for expungement under § 19.2-392.2.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, whenever a court places an individual on probation upon terms and conditions pursuant to this section, such action shall be treated as a conviction for purposes of § 18.2-308.