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2015 SESSION
15103782DBe it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §§ 19.2-72 and 19.2-271 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 19.2-72. When it may issue; what to recite and require.
A. On complaint of a criminal offense to any judicial
officer authorized to issue criminal warrants he shall examine on oath the
complainant and any other witnesses, or when such judicial officer shall
suspect that an offense punishable otherwise than by a fine has been committed
he may, without formal complaint, issue a summons for witnesses and shall
examine such witnesses. A written complaint shall be required if the
complainant is not a law-enforcement officer. If upon such examination
of a law-enforcement officer or an animal control officer such judicial officer
finds that there is probable cause to believe the accused has committed an
offense, such judicial officer shall issue a warrant for his arrest,
except that no magistrate may issue an arrest warrant for a felony offense upon
the basis of a complaint by a person other than a law-enforcement officer or an
animal control officer without prior authorization by the attorney for the
Commonwealth or by a law-enforcement agency having jurisdiction over the
alleged offense. If upon such examination of a person other than a
law-enforcement officer or an animal control officer such judicial officer
finds that there is probable cause to believe the accused has committed an
offense, such judicial officer may issue a warrant for his arrest. A written
complaint shall be required if the complainant is not a law-enforcement
officer.
B. No magistrate may issue an arrest warrant for a felony offense upon the basis of a complaint by a person other than a law-enforcement officer or an animal control officer without prior authorization by the attorney for the Commonwealth or by a law-enforcement agency having jurisdiction over the offense.
C. The warrant shall (i) be directed to an appropriate officer or officers, (ii) name the accused or, if his name is unknown, set forth a description by which he can be identified with reasonable certainty, (iii) describe the offense charged with reasonable certainty, (iv) command that the accused be arrested and brought before a court of appropriate jurisdiction in the county, city or town in which the offense was allegedly committed, and (v) be signed by the issuing officer. The warrant shall require the officer to whom it is directed to summon such witnesses as shall be therein named to appear and give evidence on the examination. But in a city or town having a police force, the warrant shall be directed "To any policeman, sheriff or his deputy sheriff of such city (or town)," and shall be executed by the policeman, sheriff or his deputy sheriff into whose hands it shall come or be delivered. A sheriff or his deputy may execute an arrest warrant throughout the county in which he serves and in any city or town surrounded thereby and effect an arrest in any city or town surrounded thereby as a result of a criminal act committed during the execution of such warrant. A jail officer as defined in § 53.1-1 employed at a regional jail or jail farm is authorized to execute a warrant of arrest upon an accused in his jail. The venue for the prosecution of such criminal act shall be the jurisdiction in which the offense occurred.
§ 19.2-271. Certain judicial officers incompetent to testify under certain circumstances (Supreme Court Rule 2:605 derived from this section); exceptions.
No judge shall be competent to testify in any criminal or civil proceeding as to any matter which came before him in the course of his official duties.
No Except as otherwise provided in this section, no clerk
of any court, magistrate, or other person having the power to issue warrants,
shall be competent to testify in any criminal or civil proceeding, except
proceedings wherein the defendant is charged with perjury, as to any matter
which came before him in the course of his official duties. Such person shall
be competent to testify as to a matter which came before him in the course
of his official duties (i) in any criminal proceeding wherein the defendant
is charged pursuant to the provisions of § 18.2-460 with perjury,
(ii) in a criminal proceeding wherein the defendant is charged with a crime
committed in the presence of the person, or (iii) in any proceeding
authorized pursuant to § 19.2-353.3. Notwithstanding any other provision of
this section, any judge, clerk of any court, magistrate, or other person having
the power to issue warrants, who is the victim of a crime, shall not be
incompetent solely because of his office to testify in any criminal or civil
proceeding arising out of the crime.