Legal Question in Criminal Law in Virginia

Re: Murder

DAMN! Well, the first thing I would say is BE CAREFUL. I would get legal advice from an attorney in such a situation. (I don't know if you are talking about a REAL situation or just a hypothetical question out of curiosity, of course.)

First, I don't think I could or should give you a "pat" blanket answer without knowing more detail. But a few things are important.

Second, there is technically something called "misprison of a felony. That is, if you know about a felony that was committed and don't report it, you can be guilty of failing to report it. Generally speaking, this is an obsolete, old idea, that is overwhelmingly ignored. Your chance of being charged with this is normally about the same as being hit by a meteorite. HOWEVER, when you start talking about murder, that is serious enough that a prosecutor COULD possibly decide to play hardball if he wanted to.

Third, however, my greatest concern for a person in that situaiton is that they might be charged with being INVOLVED in the murder.

You describe a situation where the person is NOT involved in the murder, yet only knows about it.

But the problem is not always what the truth is, but what the prosecutor / police might BELIEVE and might try to prove. If someone is that close to a murder, things could be misunderstood -- or deliberately misrepresented as "spin" to make you look guilty.

Such a person could be charged with being an "accessory" if they HELPED the murder (before or after the fact) or part of a conspiracy to commit murder (or if the police only THINK he helped).

For that reason especially, I cannot give you blanket advice like "Go to the police." Until an attorney understands exactly what is going on, it might be BAD advice to go to the police UNLESS you are ready to clearly explain and document how you are not guilty and are not part of what happened. Something you say or don't say could confuse the police into thinking you were involved.

There is a danger that the police find out about what happened, and during their investigation find something that points to you. They might (again) confuse things and falsely believe that you are involved, not just knowledgeable. If you do nothing, you could look bad if they find out about you later. On the other hand, they might never find out about you. There are risks both ways. But I think not getting good legal advice is the biggest risk of all.

So I would have to say get good legal advice before you do anything. (And, I am sorry, but that will not be free. That is going to cost you something. But it will cost you far more to make a mistake. You could try talking to the legal aid socity in your county for reduced rate legal help.)