Virginia Beach Reckless Driving Attorney

For a lot of our clients, a charge of Reckless Driving can result in the loss of their job, their security clearance, etc.

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Kite v. Commonwealth

Facts:

Defendant was convicted in the Circuit Court of Virginia Beach of reckless driving. He appealed. The appellate court held the offenses of which defendant was convicted were covered by § 19.2-294.1, under which, when he was convicted of one of the charges, the remaining charge had to be dismissed if the offenses grew out of the same act or acts. His "offending conduct" was intimately related in time and distance, arising from and connected by one continuous, uninterrupted operation of his car. He was initially pursued because he was observed to be speeding. Although police subsequently lost sight of his car for three to five minutes, there was no evidence that he discontinued operation of his car before he was stopped. No evidence gave rise to any reasonable inference that he did anything other than engage in a continuous operation of his vehicle. The trial court erred in determining, as a matter of law, that he could be convicted for both driving under the influence and reckless driving for his continuous, uninterrupted course of operation of a motor vehicle.

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Holdings:

The Virginia Court made the following holding:

·         Whether a defendant's actions constitute the "same act or acts," as contemplated by Va. Code Ann. § 19.2-294.1, requiring dismissal of one of the charges arising from them, is a mixed question of law and fact, with an appellate court bound only by supported findings of historical fact made by the trial court.

·         The same "act or acts," when considering convictions falling within the parameters of Va. Code Ann. § 19.2-294.1, requiring dismissal of one of them, are construed to mean the same act or acts of driving and to contemplate a continuous, uninterrupted course of operation of a motor vehicle.

·         Va. Code Ann. § 19.2-294.1 and Va. Code Ann. § 19.2-294 are different. Va. Code Ann. § 19.2-294.1 deals only with the offenses of driving while intoxicated and reckless driving; it applies to no other criminal offenses. This statute is applicable where these two offenses grow out of the same act or acts. "The same act or acts" means the act "of driving" and contemplates a continuous, uninterrupted course of operation of a motor vehicle. Va. Code Ann. § 19.2-294, on the other hand, applies to violation of any two or more statutes, not just driving while intoxicated and reckless driving. It is applicable only if "the same act" is a violation of two or more statutes, not to offenses growing out of the same act or acts. Furthermore, § 19.2-294 does not contemplate a continuous, uninterrupted course of operation of a motor vehicle.

Virginia Beach Reckless Driving Attorney

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