Legal Question in Criminal Law in Virginia

Re: The word ''it''.

Obviously, it cannot.

Did this happen in General District Court or in Circuit Court? If in General District Court, less than 10 days ago including today and NOT counting the day of the trial, I would leave work immediately and run down to the courthouse and ask the Clerk for a "Notice of Appeal" form and file your appeal. You can get a whole new trial in Circuit Court.

However, this was probably in Circuit Court, I would imagine. (GDC cases are more simple, usually.)

If this just happened, your old attorney or a new attorney should immediately file post-judgment motions to ask for a new trial, to overturn the verdict, to reconsider, everything possible.

If this just happened, you may have only a few DAYS to fix it. You may have to ACT VERY FAST. And if your attorney cannot do it, you need someone to do it for you FAST.

Now, there are several problems here:

(1) Did your attorney (or you) properly OBJECT? If the DA introduced the tape and nobody objected to it, that would be the reason why the judge allowed it. Nobody objected. (I know you are wondering isn't that the judge's job? Unfortunately, no. The judge waits for an objection.)

It might not be possible to fix this mistake (failure to object) but if there is any chance of doing it, you should act FAST.

(2) If the DA's witness testified ABOUT the tape, the tape could be counted as supporting evidence for the testimony of a witness. So if the witness explains what you said and what you were talking about, then the tape could be used as back-up or supporting evidence.

However, you have stated in your question that there was no explanation. You should double-check on that, if there is a transcript. That would be important to be certain about.

If you don't get this straightened out and you are prepared to spend some money, I can refer you to someone who may be able to unravel this.

Re: The word ''it''.

Those are some of the questions that the defense counsel representing the defendant should've raised before the court before the tape was permitted to be introduced into evidence at the trial.