Source: https://recklessdrivingticketinbrunswickvirginia.wordpress.com/tag/virginia-lawyers/
Timestamp: 2019-04-26 13:21:43+00:00

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The Commonwealth charged defendant with speeding under Brunswick County, Va., Code § 82-4-10, which tracked the language of and substance of the comparable Virginia Code Annotated provisions. Defendant stipulated the Commonwealth’s evidence was sufficient to convict him, but moved to dismiss the § 82-4-10 charge because he was not provided an immediate hearing upon his request pursuant to Va. Code Ann. § 46.2-936. Section 46.2-936 provided that a person issued a summons for a violation of the traffic code which was punishable as a misdemeanor had a right to an immediate hearing. Defendant requested such a hearing by noting it on the Virginia Uniform Summons of which both he and the officer had copies. However, the speeding infraction was not punishable as a misdemeanor, and, even if it had been, the remedy for violation of the rights under § 46.2-936 would not have been dismissal of the charge.
Defendant appealed her conviction by the Circuit Court of Brunswick (Virginia) of reckless driving by speeding 70 miles per hour in a 45 miles-per-hour zone in Virginia State under Virginia Code Ann. § 46.2-862, following the denial of her motion to strike the evidence obtained by pacing to prove her speed, alleging that pacing as per law was not a method for determining speed listed in Va. Code Ann. § 46.2-882.
Defendant appealed from an order of the Circuit Court of Brunswick (Virginia), which convicted him for reckless driving and feloniously driving after having been adjudicated an habitual offender in violation of Va. Code Ann. §§ 46.2-852 and 46.2-357(B)(2), respectively and also impose penalty for driving offense, contending that the evidence was insufficient to support the convictions.
A jury in the Circuit Court of Brunswick County (Virginia) convicted defendant of reckless driving by speed, in violation of Va. Code Ann. § 46.2-862. Defendant appealed. Defendant argued that the trial court erred in denying her proposed jury instruction that improper driving, an offense set forth in Va. Code Ann. § 46.2-869, was a lesser-included offense of reckless driving by speed. The appellate court disagreed. Improper driving was not a lesser-included offense of reckless driving by speed. Every commission of reckless driving by speed did not also constitute improper driving. In addition, improper driving was not composed entirely of the elements of reckless driving by speed. Improper driving required an additional finding of slight culpability, an element excluded from § 46.2-862.
If you are dealing with a Reckless Driving Speeding Misdemeanor charge in Virginia, contact our law firm immediately for help.
Defendant was convicted in the Circuit Court of Brunswick (Virginia) of DUI in violation of Va. Code Ann. § 18.2-266. Defendant contended that the lower court was required to dismiss the DUI charge because he had already pled guilty and been convicted of an offense that was by statute deemed reckless driving. The court disagreed and held that reckless driving and speeding were separate and distinct offenses.
Reckless driving is chargeable and punishable under the provisions of Article 7 in the Motor Vehicle Code chapter on the regulation of traffic. Reckless driving is a Class 1 misdemeanor, Va. Code Ann. § 46.2-868, carrying with it the potential for a twelve month jail sentence and a fine of not more than $ 2,500 under Va. Code Ann. § 18.2-1(a).
Under the express provisions of Va. Code Ann. § 19.2-294.1, only a conviction for reckless driving bars a prosecution for DUI. A conviction for speeding, even if premised on an underlying act that may have warranted a conviction for reckless driving, does not implicate the bar of the statute.
Defendant was convicted in the Circuit Court of Brunswick (Virginia) of DUI in violation of Va. Code Ann. § 18.2-266. He had previously pled guilty to speeding in violation of Va. Code Ann. § 46.2-870. Both charges arose from the same course of driving. He asserted that the DUI conviction was barred by Va. Code Ann. § 19.2-294.1 because the speeding conviction constituted a conviction for reckless driving.

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