Legal Question in Traffic Law in Virginia

Re: Traffice violations

No, but he should have an attorney representing him

in this matter.

Re: Traffice violations

No, if this is the first thing he has been found guilty of -- BECAUSE it is the first offense -- he will probably not have to do jail time.

However, he may very well be sentenced to jail time, with that jail time "suspended" for (perhaps) 1 year. That means that if he gets in trouble again within the 1 year, the jail time is automatically reasserted. So he could get anywhere from 10 days to 6 months jail time suspended. That means if he gets in trouble again he AUTOMATICALLY has that "suspended" jail time re-imposed, and he automatically has to serve that previously-suspended jail time.

Furthermore, this can dramatically affect how he is treated in the future if he gets in any trouble again.

So, I would take this very, very seriously, and get a criminal defense attorney to represent him. Serving time in jail is NOT the only consequence that you should be concerned about. You should take it very seriously, and work to get him found innocent.

I realize that this is in conflict with a desire to scare him straight. You want him to stop taking such chances. However, the long-term consequences to his life are very severe.

For example, if a police officer runs his tags and sees that he has a record, the police may repeatedly stop him in the future, leading to him getting caught again and again, with destructive effects. He might not serve jail the 1st time. But it might not be the last time he gets charged. So he might not go to jail THIS time, but it could ultimately lead to him going to jail later for far longer and under far more severe circumstances.