Criminal defendants housed in the Western Tidewater Regional Jail recently received a significant upgrade to their discovery process. There were issues that made it difficult for attorneys to be able to show criminal inmates videos that were part of the criminal discovery process. The judges of the Fifth Judicial Circuit (Suffolk, Southampton County, Isle of Wight County) learned that and, after conversations with certain officials at the jail, has now developed a process where attorneys can arrange to have their clients review the discoverable videos while in custody. Virginia has pretty limited criminal discovery as it is. In Virginia circuit courts, under Rule 3A:11 of the Rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia, criminal defendants can move the court for the discovery set out I the Rule. Pursuant to that Rule, the accused or their attorney are entitled to statements or confessions, written reports of autopsies, ballistic tests, fingerprint analyses, handwriting analyses, blood, urine, and breath tests, other scientific reports, and written reports of a physical or mental examination of the accused or the alleged victim made in connection with the particular case. The accused is also entitled to designated books, papers, documents, tangible objects, buildings or places, or copies or portions thereof. The accused must make a showing that the items sought may be material to the preparation of his defense and that the request is reasonable. Additionally, an accused is entitled to exculpatory evidence, which would tend to show that the accused did not commit the offense, would be useful in mitigating the offense, or would be used for the impeachment of a government witness. If you are facing a criminal charge in the Western Tidewater area, call the experienced trial lawyers at Randall, Page & Bruch, P.C. We fight to protect the rights of the people of Western Tidewater. That is our mission; and our passion.
