Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in Virginia

Overturning misdemeanor conviction

In February 4th, 2007 I have been given a ticket for ''vehicle solicitation'' in the town of Herndon VA. I didn't go to the court hearing on march 14th, I have been tried in absentia and the Final Disposition in District Court was Guilty in Absentia.

I filed a motion to rehear and was scheduled to appear before the judge in fairfax county district court on March 28th.

I pleaded not guilty but the judge didn't accept my plea and said I need to appeal the conviction in circuit court. But the deadline to appeal was 2 days over. I paid the $75 fine and $87 court fees thinking that it was just a traffic offense. Lately when I applied for a job I discovered that that the conviction was actually a midemeanor. In the last week of August 2007, Fairfax County Judge Leslie M. Alden ruled that Herndon�s Vehicle Solicitation Ordinance violates the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech.

Since the offence for which i was convicted is unconstitutional, is there anyway I can remove this misdemeanor from my records? Can I appeal this conviction in some court? Please give me some advice.


Asked on 1/06/08, 11:13 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

Re: Overturning misdemeanor conviction

I have never heard of this local ordinance called "vehicle solicitation" and from your description of matters assume that it involves some sort of prohibition on passing out unsolicitated flyers or other informational ads to vehicles temporarily stopped on public roads within the town of Herndon, and would seriously doubt that there is a statutory cognate for it to be found in the Code of Virginia.

Unfortunately, as you've been informed, your remedy should have been to perfect in the Fairfax Co. Circuit Court your appeal within 10 days of the lower court's decision rather than to file for a rehearing on the matter. (The case would've very likely been dismissed in the circuit court.)

As to Judge Alden's ruling in August 07, this helps only the defendant charged in that particular case (and

possibly any others who might come

before this particular judge on this particular charge). Furthermore, since Judge Alden sits as a trial judge on the Fairfax Co. General District Court and is not empowered to make appellate rulings which are final and dispositional in any controverted matter, her ruling has no binding precedence on any other judges who may be required to rule on this matter.

Since you now apparently have a misdemeanor on your record which can no longer be appealed and which, as you're now apparently learning, can prove quite vexatious in a variety of areas of your life, the remedy of expungement which may be available to you under Va. Code Sec. 19.2-392.2(C)

should be looked to as a possible solution to the problem of removing this conviction from your record.

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Answered on 1/07/08, 9:31 am


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