Legal Question in Criminal Law in Virginia

Re: Paying restitution when you were not convicted of theft

You say that you have been convicted. This means

that you either entered a plea of guilty or that

you had a trial and were found guilty, beyond

reasonable doubt. Either way, the Commonwealth Attorney must have had very substantial evidence showing that you acted as an accessory after

the fact to the person who actually committed the grand larceny(the principal in the first degree).(And you would not have had to necessarily steal anything at all to be convicted of this particular crime.)

S18.2-19 of the Code of Virginia provides as follows: In the case of every felony (which includes grand larceny) every accessory after the fact shall be guilty of a Class 1 misde-

meanor...

Additionally, S18.2-21 states: An accessory, either before or after the fact, may,whether the

principal felon has been convicted or not, be

indicted, tried, convicted, and punished in the

county or corporation in which he became an accessory, or in which the principal felon might be indicted....

Also, even though you may not have stolen anything, you were convicted, in effect, of being a participant to the crime and, therefore, the court may order that you pay restitution as part

of your punishment.