Arraignment shall be conducted in open court. It shall consist of reading to the accused the charge on which he will be tried and calling on him to plead thereto. In a felony case, arraignment is not necessary when waived by the accused. In a misdemeanor case, arraignment is not necessary when waived by the accused or his counsel, or when the accused fails to appear.
An accused may plead not guilty, guilty or nolo contendere. The court may refuse to accept a plea of guilty to any lesser offense included in the charge upon which the accused is arraigned; but, in misdemeanor and felony cases the court shall not refuse to accept a plea of nolo contendere.
With the approval of the court and the consent of the Commonwealth, a defendant may enter a conditional plea of guilty in a misdemeanor or felony case in circuit court, reserving the right, on appeal from the judgment, to a review of the adverse determination of any specified pretrial motion. If the defendant prevails on appeal, he shall be allowed to withdraw his plea.
Upon rejecting a plea agreement in any criminal matter, a judge shall immediately recuse himself from any further proceedings on the same matter unless the parties agree otherwise.
1975, c. 495; 1987, c. 357; 2014, cc. 52, 165.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
151
cases (
29 in the last 5 years), 1990–2026 · leading case:
Glenn v. Commonwealth, 642 S.E.2d 282 (Va. Ct. App. 2007).
Glenn v. Commonwealth, 642 S.E.2d 282 (Va. Ct. App. 2007).
· cites it 32× “" The scope of this consent, the court held, provided the officers with apparent authority to search the entire house and to open the backpack found during the search.”
Glenn v. Commonwealth, 633 S.E.2d 205 (Va. Ct. App. 2006).
· cites it 60× “" Here, as discussed above, this Court partially denied Glenn's petition for appeal, thereby raising the question of whether Glenn should be allowed the opportunity to withdraw his conditional plea even though he only prevailed on appeal with respect to one of the two issues…”
Cross v. Commonwealth, 642 S.E.2d 763 (Va. Ct. App. 2007).
· cites it 34× “The Commonwealth argues that Code § 19.2-254 does not permit a conditional guilty plea to a misdemeanor.”
Jefferson v. Commonwealth, 500 S.E.2d 219 (Va. Ct. App. 1998).
· cites it 6× “The Commonwealth argues, however, that any error attributable to nondisclosure had no objectively reasonable effect on defendant’s pleas and, therefore, was immaterial to the result.”
Latron Dupree Brown v. Commonwealth of Virginia, 802 S.E.2d 197 (Va. Ct. App. 2017).
· cites it 7× “See Code § 19.2-254. 2 Typically, if incorrectly, termed Alford pleas, such guilty pleas permit “[a]n individual accused of crime [to] voluntarily, knowingly, and understandingly consent to the imposition of a prison sentence even if he is unwilling or unable to admit his…”
Simmons v. Commonwealth, 681 S.E.2d 56 (Va. Ct. App. 2009).
· cites it 12× “Simmons contends his conviction for attempted murder was void based on his reading of Code §§ 19.2-254 1 and 19.2-259 2 providing for arraignment as a mandatory requirement for a circuit court obtaining subject matter jurisdiction.”
Hill v. Commonwealth, 626 S.E.2d 459 (Va. Ct. App. 2006).
· cites it 6× “” However, because Hill did not enter a conditional guilty plea pursuant to Code § 19.2-254, and because Hill entered a voluntary and intelligent guilty plea, we *670 find that Hill has waived his right to appeal from the judgment in this case.”
Glenn v. Com., 654 S.E.2d 910 (Va. 2008).
· cites it 2× “The circuit court found that Brooks consented to the search of his house "without reservation or qualification" and that "[Glenn] was present at the search, observed the search and took no action to countermand his grandfather's permission by advising the police that he objected…”
Commonwealth v. Gomez, 104 N.E.3d 636 (Mass. 2018).
· cites it 3× “11(a)(2) ; Idaho R. Crim. P. 11(a)(2) ; Ky. R. Crim. P.”
Baker v. Commonwealth, 700 S.E.2d 160 (Va. Ct. App. 2010).
· cites it 8× “This case involves a conditional guilty plea under Code § 19.2-254, which mandates that we remand the case to the trial court to permit the possible withdrawal of the guilty plea if an appellant prevails on appeal without regard to any inevitable discovery or harmless error…”
Hasan v. Com., 667 S.E.2d 568 (Va. 2008).
· cites it 4× “The Commonwealth consented to this conditional plea and the trial court approved it, as required by Code § 19.2-254. Upon entering this conditional plea, Hasan was found guilty of both offenses.”
Clauson v. Commonwealth, 511 S.E.2d 449 (Va. Ct. App. 1999).
· cites it 6× “Code § 19.2-254 provides that the accused in a criminal proceeding “may plead not guilty, guilty, or nolo *289 contendere” upon arraignment for the offense “on which he will be tried.”
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