Legal Question in Criminal Law in Virginia

If an individual in the state of virginia has a license plate tag displayed in the front window rather than mounted on the front bumper is that enough to stop or pull over an individual? Also once the individual is pulled over and advises the cop he does not have his drivers license as it was left at a tattoo parlor that we were going to get that day is that a right for the cop to immediatley advise the individual to get out of the vehicle and request to search them. The individual states no he does not want to be searched and then the officer runs his social to find that his license was suspended but the individual had no idea the license was suspended as he had just gotten tags at the DMV for a vehicle and insurance as well. We found that because he was on a FR44 court order that he had to maintain insurance even if he had no vehicle and because he was not aware of this fully he had sold his car, turned his tags into the DMV, and then proceeded with canceling his insurance because he had no vehicle however was not aware that he could not cancel or he would violate the court order and so they suspended his license. The cop then places him under arrest and then proceeds to search the individual and finds marijuana on him and charges him with a possession charge. He writes two tickets one for driving on suspended the other for possession....Is this legal or is it possible at all to walk regardless of prices of attorneys for these types of offenses or what advice can you provide on what options he would have. This would be a second offense possession charge and third offense for driving on suspended however the driving on a suspended was truly an honest mistake as we had no idea he had to keep the insurance with no vehicle and was never advised his license was suspended when he went to get tags or insurance.


Asked on 1/28/10, 4:26 am

2 Answers from Attorneys
sheryl shane sheryl shane, attorney at law

Off the top of my head, if your plate is obstructing your view for driving, the police may be able to pull you over. If you hire an attorney - ask what about a frisk, search incident to arrest, or what is an inventory search. You may have a notice argument...but can still lose on misd. two for no operator license. Possession charges...lots of arguments on those cases. Hire attorney.

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Answered on 2/02/10, 6:20 am
David Saiki Law Office of David M. Saiki

In Virginia license plates must be attached to the front of the vehicle. See VA Code 46.2-715. In your situation, therefore, the officer had reason to stop you. Once he stopped you, he was entitled to check your license status. Once he did, and discovered your license was suspended, he was entitled to arrest you. Based on the facts as you state them, he searched you incident to arresting you. His search was therefore valid. His discovery of the marijuana was valid. If, as you state in your facts, you did not have notice of your suspension, you should fight the driving on suspended license charge in court. The commonwealth must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you had notice of your license suspension to convict you. Also,some bad news: third offense driving on suspended license within 10 years of two prior convictions, carries a mandatory 10 day jail sentence, so you might want to defend this in court. You will probably have a harder time defending the possession of marijuana charge however, because it was discovered in the course of a lawful search. Hope this helps.

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Answered on 2/02/10, 1:04 pm


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