Pretrial release for Virginia domestic violence charges depends on the crime committed. There are certain crimes that are more serious felonies, things that involve aggravated offenses or certainly aggravated assault and battery, anything that includes the use of a weapon. Virginia domestic violence crimes that are listed out in the Virginia Code are going to be things that an individual is presumed to be a danger to themselves or others if they were released pretrial. What that means is that a Virginia domestic violence attorney is going to have to prove that the person is not a danger to anyone.
For a bond motion to have clients pretrial released after arraignment, defense attorneys have to show the judge that the individual is not a danger to the community and is not a flight risk. Long and short, everybody is entitled to some type of bond, unless they fall into a category where they are a danger to themselves and others or they present a flight risk, or they are charged with a certain crime that allows the court to assume that they are a danger to themselves or others, barring evidence to the contrary.
Certain factors allow the court to assess somebody’s character to decide whether or not they can allow them to be released before trial without presenting a risk of either some type of danger to the community or a flight risk. These pretrial release factors include if an individual:
If an individual is released pretrial there are certain conditions they are released under in Virginia, one of them being absolutely no contact with the victim. They are probably going to have some type of payment that they are going to have to make to the court as a bond that they would forfeit if they mess up, break the conditions of their bond, or they fail to appear.
No violence or no further acts of violence is something that the court usually imposes in these situations. Even if there is a no-contact order, there is going to be a no act of violence order. Then, sometimes, it could be something like stay away from the house, find a different place to stay and maintain employment. It just depends on the facts of the situation and the way that the judge can ensure the safety of the victim and of their community.
No contact is just where the judge tells an individual that they cannot have contact with someone through phone, in person, online, by mail, or by smoke signals. In other words, the individual may not contact the other person by any means, not even through somebody else.
Even if the person who is the alleged victim tries to contact them, if a victim who has a no-contact order in place calls a defendant and tries to talk to them on the phone, even if the defendant says nothing and stays on the phone, that counts as a violation; they must hang up immediately.
If a no-contact order is part of the bond for pretrial release, then the person facing domestic violence charges will forfeit their bond and can be locked up and held without bond until their court date. If it is part of a protective order, then they are charged with the separate offense of violating a protective order and often held without bond until their court date. In Virginia, the person accused of domestic violence charges will get locked up again if they violate a protective order and they will not be able to be released until the court date.
If there is a no-contact order given as a bond, if the person contacts them, they will lose the bond and go to jail. If there is a protective order in place and the accused contacts them, they will not only be charged with a new charge but they will probably not be let out on bond. Anyone facing domestic violence charges in Virginia who is interested in better understanding the pretrial release process, should contact a skilled domestic violence lawyer immediately.