Legal Question in Criminal Law in Virginia

Re: telephone threat

I must disagree with Mr. Stolker's posted reply. I know of no way to get a criminal conviction overturned in the Commonwealth of Virginia by means of a "detailed affidavit" from the deponent who allegedly lied regarding the crime at issue. (After all the affidavit itself could be bogus or a forgery.)

Sec. 19.2-392.1 et seq. of the Virginia Code of Criminal Procedure does provide for the expungement of criminal records under certain very limited circumstances but much more is involved than merely the preparation of an affidavit and, furthermore, the Office of the Commonwealth Attorney that was responsible for the original prosecution of the crime at issue must be made a party to the proceeding and be served with a copy of the petition for expungement and given 21 days to reply.

In short, it would appear that your chances of now being able to get your conviction for telephone threats reversed after 14 years would in reality be very unlikely.

Re: telephone threat

Newly discovered evidence can be a basis to overturn a conviction, although the passage of so many years makes it a bit more difficult. The person who lied will have to provide a detailed affidavit, and it's best if an attorney prepares it.

You should contact me or another attorney and get this done as soon as possible.

Richard S. Stolker,

301.294.9500