Virginia DUI warrant error not fatal to prosecution
In a Virginia DUI case, the Court of Appeals of Virginia has ruled that a it is okay to amend a warrant when the original warrant cited the incorrect code when doing so did not actually prejudice the defendant.
The Cite: Dennis v. Commonwealth of Virginia, Court of Appeals of Virginia, Decided December 9, 2008.
Issue:
Dennis contends the trial court erred in amending the warrant to eliminate reference to Newport News Code § 26-8.
Under Rule 3A:4, an arrest warrant must describe the offense charged. This description must comply with Rule 3A:7(a), which deals with the description of the charge that must be contained in an indictment. We have held under this rule that an indictment must give an accused notice of the nature and character of the offense.
Holding:
The amendment of the warrant did not change the nature and character of the offense charged. Dennis claimed no surprise regarding the charge he was facing, nor did he request a continuance to prepare for trial. Thus, the trial court did not err in amending the warrant and in denying Dennis's motion to dismiss.
My Analysis: I often get potential clients who think there is hope of getting their case thrown out because of a technical or typographical error in the documentation. These errors range from mis-documenting their vehicle’s VIN to substituting another defendant’s name in the police narrative.
Most of the time I have to bring them down to earth and tell them that a small technical deficiency is unlikely to change the outcome of the case or create leverage for plea bargaining unless we can show that it either prejudiced their chances at a fair disposition (for example n the case of a mis-documented civilian witness whom we are unable to locate), or that the police officer is dishonest (as in the case of an officer I caught cutting and pasting police reports paragraphs from one defendant to another who forgot to remove the previous defendant’s name).
In DUI cases, there is a strong leaning towards forgiving sloppiness in law enforcement.
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In my DUI Law Blog this morning I commented on a case from Virginia that shows that appeals courts in DUI cases will ignore deficiencies in warrants as long as there is no real prejudice to the defendant.
