Legal Question in Criminal Law in Virginia

Assuming the charge is burglary, as a class 3 felony, the penalty could run

5 to 20 years in the penitentiary; if armed with a deadly weapon, the perpetrator

could be looking at a class 2 felony, a minimum of 20 years in a DOC facility.

(See Va. Code Sec. 18.2-89.)

However, if not burglary but breaking and entering an occupied dwelling

house with the intent to commit a misdemeanor therein, the perpetrator might

only be charged with a class 6 felony which carries a much less

severe sentence than what's described above. (Va. Code Sec. 18.2-92.)