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- Subject Index: Since 1995
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2010 SESSION
Reynolds (Chairman), Norment, Howell, McDougle, Hurt, Deeds, McEachin
Clerk: Angi Murphy
Date of Meeting: January 28, 2010
Time and Place: 7:30 a.m., Senate Room A
Patron: Puller
Using transportation district trains without a valid ticket. Rewrites the code section that punishes unlawfully riding on a transportation district train. The bill punishes failure or refusal to pay the posted fare, or failure to properly validate a train ticket, as a Class 4 misdemeanor. The bill punishes use of a validated ticket outside of the zone of the ticketed ride as a Class 4 misdemeanor. The bill punishes use of a fraudulent or counterfeit ticket as a Class 2 misdemeanor. The bill limits the amount of recoverable costs to the same amount as the maximum fine.
Patron: Quayle
Eluding police; penalty. Provides that a person who attempts to escape or elude a law-enforcement officer who has given a signal to bring the motor vehicle to a stop is guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor whether the attempt to escape or elude is on foot, in the vehicle or by any other means.
Patron: Stuart
Certificates of analysis and affidavits. Amends legislation enacted during the August 2009 Special Session in response to the United States Supreme Court decision in Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, 557 U.S. ___ (June 25, 2009) to state that provisions requiring a 28-day notification to the defendant must be followed only if the certificate or affidavit is to be used in lieu of testimony. The bill also states that the copies that must be filed with the clerk may be filed within two days after being provided to the defendant rather than on the same day. Testimony by two-way video conferencing is allowed with the consent of the defendant. The time limit for continuances is extended from not more than 180 days for a person who is not incarcerated and 90 days for a person who is incarcerated to nine months and five months respectively.
Patron: Edwards
Capital case sentencing forms. Revises the statutory sentencing forms used in capital cases to add a form that provides that even if the jury finds future dangerousness and vileness it may sentence the defendant to life imprisonment rather than death. It also revises an existing form to make it clear that in order to impose a death sentence the jury's finding of future dangerousness or vileness must be unanimous. This bill addresses issues raised in Prieto v. Commonwealth, decided by the Virginia Supreme Court on September 18, 2009.
Patron: McDougle
Preliminary hearing; testimony reduced to writing. Allows the district court judge conducting the preliminary hearing to order witness testimony reduced to writing. Under current law only the judge of the court of record to which the case has been or may be certified can make such an order. This bill is a recommendation of the Committee on District Courts.
Patron: Obenshain
Certificates of analysis in criminal cases. Amends legislation enacted during the August 2009 Special Session in response to the United States Supreme Court decision in Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, 557 U.S. ___ (June 25, 2009) to state that if the Commonwealth intends to have testimony by two-way video conferencing that information must be provided to the defendant in the notice that the Commonwealth is otherwise required to provide and the defendant must specifically object or he waives his right to object.
Patron: Quayle
Penalty for certain crimes against adults 60 years of age or older. Increases criminal penalties when the victim of the offense is 60 years of age or older and the offender knows or reasonably should know the victim of the offense is 60 years of age or older, as follows: Any person who commits a grand larceny shall be punished by a term of imprisonment of not less than two nor more than 20 years. Any person who obtains money by false pretenses is guilty of a Class 3 felony. Any person who signs another's name to a writing is guilty of a Class 4 felony. Any person who commits an identity theft resulting in financial loss of greater than $200 is guilty of a Class 5 felony. Any person who commits a second or subsequent offense pursuant to § 18.2-213.2 shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of two years, in addition to the punishment provided for such offense.
Patron: Hurt
Juvenile court; interlocutory appeals by Commonwealth. Allows the Commonwealth to appeal a juvenile court suppression ruling to circuit court and the Court of Appeals. Upon the motion of the Commonwealth the juvenile court must stay the proceedings and issue a written statement of its findings of law and relevant facts in support of its suppression ruling and submit the case to the circuit court for a de novo hearing. The hearing has priority on the circuit court's docket and if it upholds the suppression ruling, the Commonwealth may appeal to the Court of Appeals. The bill applies in preliminary hearings, transfer hearings and trials in juvenile court where the offense would be a felony if committed by an adult and to rulings prohibiting the use of certain evidence on the grounds that the evidence was obtained in violation of the provisions of the Fourth, Fifth or Sixth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States or Article I, Section 8, 10 or 11 of the Constitution of Virginia prohibiting illegal searches and seizures and protecting rights against self-incrimination.
The bill also allows the time limitations on secure detention to be extended for the Commonwealth's appeal and provides that written court decisions of the Court of Appeals shall not contain the first or last name of the juvenile.
Patron: Hurt
Foreign search warrants to be honored. Provides that a Virginia corporation or other entity that provides electronic communication services or remote computing services to the general public, when properly served with a warrant and affidavit in support of the warrant, issued by a judicial officer or court of another state with jurisdiction over the matter, to produce a record or other information pertaining to a subscriber to or customer of such service or the contents of electronic communications, or both, shall produce the record or other information as if that warrant had been issued by a Virginia court.
Patron: Hurt
Records concerning electronic communication service or remote computing service. Provides that a foreign corporation that provides electronic communication service or remote computing service shall disclose a record or other information pertaining to a subscriber to or customer of such service, excluding the contents of electronic communications, to an investigative or law-enforcement officer pursuant to (1) a search warrant issued by a magistrate, general district court or a circuit court; (2) a court order for such disclosure issued as provided in this section; or (3) the consent of the subscriber or customer to such disclosure.
Patron: Hurt
Admissibility of records concerning electronic communication service or remote computing service. Provides that records of a provider of electronic communication service or remote computing service that pertain to a subscriber to or customer of such service are prima facie evidence of the facts therein stated if, at any trial or hearing, such records are accompanied by an affidavit made by the records' custodian affirming that the provider regularly prepares and relies upon such records in the transaction of its business.
Patron: McDougle
Prohibition on wearing a mask; public emergency exception. Adds to the existing exemptions in the section making it a Class 6 felony for a person over the age of 16 to wear a mask in public or on private property without the owner's written consent an exception when the Governor has declared a disaster or state of emergency in response to a public health emergency.
Patron: Herring
Crimes against incapacitated or elder adults; penalty. Provides that any person who commits an offense set forth in Chapter 4 (crimes against the person), Chapter 5 (crimes against property), or Chapter 6 (crimes involving fraud) of Title 18.2, knowing or having reason to know that the victim of the offense is an incapacitated or elder adult is guilty of a separate and distinct Class 1 misdemeanor if the underlying offense is a misdemeanor and a separate and distinct Class 6 felony if the underlying offense is a felony. The bill adds that if the offender is a person responsible for the care of the victim, punishment for a misdemeanor shall include a mandatory minimum term of confinement of 30 days, and punishment for a felony shall include a mandatory minimum term of confinement of six months.
Patron: Marsden
Detention. Allows a juvenile to be moved to a less restrictive placement when, in the judgment of the custodian, the move is warranted or earned by the juvenile unless the court has specifically ordered that no such transfer shall be allowed of that juvenile.
Patron: Marsden
Airsoft guns on school property; penalty. Adds weapons designed to expel a projectile at a speed of more than 250 feet per second by action of compressed air or gas, such as an airsoft gun, to the list of weapons that are prohibited from being possessed on school property.
Patron: Marsden
Using transportation district trains without a valid ticket. Rewrites the code section that punishes unlawfully riding on a transportation district train. The bill punishes failure or refusal to pay the posted fare, or failure to properly validate a train ticket, as a Class 4 misdemeanor. The bill punishes use of a validated ticket outside of the zone of the ticketed ride as a Class 4 misdemeanor. The bill punishes use of a fraudulent or counterfeit ticket as a Class 2 misdemeanor. The bill limits the amount of recoverable costs to the same amount as the maximum fine.
Patron: Marsden
Crimes by juveniles; notice given to schools; exclude Class 3 and 4 misdemeanors. Provides that if a petition is filed by an intake officer alleging a juvenile has committed an act that would be a crime if committed by an adult, a report of such petition need not be filed with the superintendent of the school division where the juvenile attends school if the crime would be a Class 3 or Class 4 misdemeanor if committed by an adult.
Patron: Vogel
Electronic tracking devices in motor vehicles. Provides that any person who, with the intent to electronically track the location of a motor vehicle, knowingly installs or places an electronic tracking device, or causes an electronic tracking device to be installed or placed, in or on a motor vehicle without the consent of the owner or lessee, is guilty of a Class 4 misdemeanor. This provision does not apply to the original manufacturer of the motor vehicle, law enforcement officers, judicial officers, probation and parole officers, bail bondsmen, and bail enforcement agents.
Patron: Marsden
Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry; name of offender's employer not to be published. Provides that the name or company title of the employer of an offender included in the Registry shall not be made available on the database publicly available through the Internet.