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ACROSS SESSIONS
- Subject Index: Since 1995
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2011 SESSION
Reynolds (Chairman), Norment, Howell, McDougle, Deeds, McEachin
Clerk: Angi Murphy, Cheryl Law
Staff: J. French, M. Felch, K. Stokes
Date of Meeting: January 17, 2011
Time and Place: 4:00 PM - Senate Room A
Patron: Edwards
Juvenile's right to appeal transfer to circuit court. Provides for a juvenile's right to appeal to the circuit court the attorney for the Commonwealth's decision in certain violent felony cases to transfer the juvenile's case to the circuit court for trial as an adult.
Patron: Stuart
Blue Alert Program. Provides for the establishment of a Blue Alert Program to be administered by the Department of State Police when a suspect for a crime involving the death or serious injury of a law-enforcement officer has not been apprehended and is a serious threat to the public or when a law-enforcement officer is missing while in the line of duty under suspicious circumstances.
Patron: Stuart
Castle doctrine. Encodes a version of the "castle doctrine," allowing a lawful occupant to use of physical force, including deadly force, against an intruder in his dwelling who has committed an overt act against him, without civil liability.
Patron: Deeds
Definition of violent felony; penalty. Removes an "and" in two places in the list of violent felonies to make it clear that a person does not need to be convicted of each felony in the clause in order to have a listed offense qualify as a violent felony. In one clause, the two felonies are § 18.2-308.1 (possession of weapon on school property) and § 18.2-308.2 (possession of firearm by a felon) and in the other clause, the two offenses are § 18.2-379 (employing or permitting minor to assist in offense under obscenity article) and § 18.2-381 (second offense under obscenity article). The bill also makes it clear that one conviction under § 18.2-381 (second offense under obscenity article) qualifies as a violent felony.
Patron: Deeds
Family assault and battery. Allows the penalty for family assault and battery to be elevated from a Class 1 misdemeanor to a Class 6 felony if the defendant has previously been convicted of unlawful wounding or unlawful bodily injury by means of a substance. Under current law, malicious wounding and malicious bodily injury by means of a substance are two of the crimes that allow elevation of the penalty.
Patron: McDougle
Offenses for which a juvenile is subject to transfer and trial as an adult; penalty. Provides that a juvenile age 14 or older will automatically be subject to a preliminary hearing in juvenile court and transferred to circuit court for trial as an adult if he is charged with any offense defined as an act of violence in § 19.2-297.1 and has been previously adjudicated delinquent for such an offense.
The bill also provides that a juvenile court shall conduct a preliminary hearing upon notice by the attorney for the Commonwealth to the court and parties when a juvenile 14 years of age or older is charged with gang participation in violation of § 18.2-46.2.
The bill also provides that a juvenile court shall conduct a preliminary hearing upon notice by the attorney for the Commonwealth to the court and parties whenever a juvenile 14 years of age or older is charged with manufacturing, selling, giving, distributing, or possessing with intent to manufacture, sell, give or distribute a controlled substance or an imitation controlled substance in violation of § 18.2-248; manufacturing, selling, giving, distributing, or possessing with intent to manufacture, sell, give, or distribute methamphetamine in violation of § 18.2-248.03; felonious selling, giving, distributing or possessing with intent to distribute marijuana in violation of § 18.2-248.1; or possessing with intent to manufacture, sell, give, or distribute anabolic steroids in violation of § 18.2-248.5, if the juvenile has been previously adjudicated delinquent of any such offense.
Patron: McDougle
Virginia Fusion Intelligence Center. Allows the Virginia Fusion Intelligence Center to receive and integrate criminal-related intelligence information, not just terrorist-related intelligence, to assist in preventing and deterring criminal activity generally.
Patron: McDougle
Sex offender registry; affidavits. Clarifies several provisions regarding the use of an affidavit in a criminal proceeding for failure to register as a sex offender. The bill makes it clear that the Melendez-Diaz procedures do not have to be followed for a preliminary hearing and that in preliminary hearings the Commonwealth is not responsible for summoning the custodian of the records issuing the affidavit.
Patron: McDougle
Sale of tobacco products. Provides that wrappings may be sold only in places that are not open to the general public and not generally accessible to minors and that an establishment which prohibits the presence of minors unless accompanied by an adult is not open to the general public. There is a civil penalty. Wrappings are defined in existing law as papers made or sold for covering or rolling tobacco or other materials for smoking in a manner similar to a cigarette or cigar.
Patron: Howell
Training standards for law-enforcement emergency calls and pursuits and lineups. Requires the Department of Criminal Justice Services to establish training standards and publish a model policy for law-enforcement personnel assigned to vehicle patrol duties that comply with best practices for pursuits and for responding to emergency calls and to establish training standards and publish a model policy for law-enforcement personnel involved in criminal investigations that comply with best practices for conducting photographic and live lineups.
Patron: Howell
Juvenile dispositions. Gives the circuit court the authority to modify a finding of guilt to an adjudication of delinquency when a juvenile is tried in circuit court and fulfills the conditions of probation after the court has deferred the imposition of a final sentence and placed the juvenile on probation.
Patron: Blevins
Criminal history record information; Department of Rehabilitative Services. Authorizes the Department of Rehabilitative Services to obtain criminal history record information for the purpose of evaluating an individual's fitness for various types of employment and for the purpose of delivering comprehensive vocational rehabilitation services that will assist the individual in obtaining employment.
Patron: Northam
Possession of certain substances with intent to manufacture methamphetamines. Refines the list of substances involved in the manufacture of methamphetamine, the possession of two of which, coupled with the intent to manufacture methamphetamine, is punished as a Class 6 felony. The change is intended to capture substances used in new methods of manufacture and to capture by-products, as well as precursors, of manufacture.
Patron: Puckett
Destruction of live marijuana plants. Provides that where a seizure of more than 10 suspected marijuana plants is made in connection with any drug prosecution or investigation, the appropriate law-enforcement agency may destroy the plants by direction of the chief law-enforcement officer or his designee, without a court order, when it is not reasonably possible to preserve the plants in place or to remove the plants to another location; random and representative samples of the plants to be destroyed are retained for evidentiary purposes; and photographs or video recordings are taken to record the total amount of the suspected marijuana plants seized.
Patron: Puckett
Drug Treatment Courts. Provides for the establishment of drug treatment courts in Buchanan, Dickenson, Goochland, Montgomery, and Russell Counties, and for the establishment of a drug treatment court in the County of Wise that will serve the Counties of Lee, Scott, and Wise; provided that each court is funded within existing state and local appropriations.