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2010 SESSION

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Senate Committee on Courts of Justice
Subcommittee Criminal

Reynolds (Chairman), Norment, Howell, McDougle, Hurt, Deeds, McEachin

Clerk: Angi Murphy
Date of Meeting: February 4, 2010
Time and Place: 7:30 AM, Senate Room A

S.B. 41

Patron: Stuart

Restricted permit; driving to church.  Adds driving to and from church and church-related activities to the list of places a person can drive when issued a restricted permit.

S.B. 70

Patron: McEachin

Expungement of criminal conviction record.  Allows a person convicted of certain criminal offenses to petition to have his conviction expunged after a five-year period has expired following the conviction, upon a showing that his opportunities for employment, education, or professional licensure are prejudiced by the existence of the criminal record. Expungement would not be available for someone convicted of a violent felony, a DUI-related offense, an offense for which registration on the sex offender registry is required, or domestic violence.

S.B. 153

Patron: Stuart

Destruction of exhibits. Relieves the clerk of notifying a defendant of the destruction or donation of certain exhibits used at trial: drugs, weapons, or exhibits deemed contraband. The defendant's attorney still receives notice. Any exhibits which are forfeitable to the state are controlled by other provisions of the Code where innocent owners have an opportunity to retrieve their property.

S.B. 208

Patron: Barker

Family or household member; definition.  Includes within the definition of a person's "family or household member" any individual who is currently or was formerly involved in a substantive, intimate dating relationship with the person; the existence of such a substantive relationship shall be determined based on (i) the length of the relationship, (ii) the nature of the relationship, and (iii) the frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship. A casual relationship or ordinary fraternization in a business or social context does not constitute a dating relationship. Expanding the definition of "family or household member" implicates crimes for which a family or household member is a victim (e.g., assault and battery against a family member) and protective orders under which a person may be protected (e.g., protective orders in cases of family abuse).

S.B. 387

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.

S.B. 489

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.

S.B. 490

Patron: Hurt

Bail terms set by court on a capias to be honored by magistrate. Provides that a magistrate who is to set the terms of bail of a person arrested and brought before him on a capias shall do so in accordance with the order of the court that issued the capias, if the court so orders.

S.B. 492

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.

S.B. 493

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.

S.B. 494

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.

S.B. 579

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.

S.B. 679

Patron: Hanger

Restorative justice programs.  Establishes a restorative justice program for offenders and victims. Provisions address participation, court involvement, confidentiality, and immunity from civil liability.

S.B. 716

Patron: Petersen

Conditions of release without bond. Provides that no person arrested for a felony who has previously been convicted of a felony, or who is presently on bond for an unrelated arrest in any jurisdiction, or who is on probation or parole, may be released to a pretrial services agency in lieu of posting a secure bond unless he is determined by a court to be indigent.

S.B. 724

Patron: Reynolds

Appeal of bail decision.  Amends section allowing attorney for the Commonwealth to appeal a bail decision made by the court over the objection of the attorney for the Commonwealth to allow appeal of a decision made by a judicial officer (including a magistrate or clerk) even if the attorney for the Commonwealth did not object.