Virginia Code
Va. Code Ann. § 19.2-269 (2026)
Convicts as witnesses (Supreme Court Rule 2:609 derived from this section)
✓ current as of May 2026
Find cases:
SyfertCases citing this section
VA-LISlaw.lis.virginia.gov
JustiaTitle on Justia
CornellLII Search
CasesGoogle Scholar
A person convicted of a felony or perjury shall not be incompetent to testify, but the fact of conviction may be shown in evidence to affect his credit.
Code 1950, § 19.1-265; 1960, c. 366; 1975, c. 495.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 69
cases (15 in the last 5 years), 1976–2026 · leading case: Powell v. Commonwealth, 409 S.E.2d 622 (Va. Ct. App. 1991).
Powell v. Commonwealth, 409 S.E.2d 622 (Va. Ct. App. 1991). “” Code § 19.2-269 provides that “a person convicted of a felony or perjury shall not be incompetent to testify, but the fact of conviction may be shown in evidence to affect his credit.”
Wright v. West, 505 U.S. 277 (1992). “Finally, he failed to produce any other supporting evidence, such as testimony from Elkins, whom he claimed to have known for years and done business with on a regular basis. As the trier of fact, the jury was entitled to disbelieve West's uncorroborated and confused testimony.”
Joyner v. Commonwealth, 392 S.E.2d 822 (Va. Ct. App. 1990). “The resolution of the issue presented by this appeal rests within the provisions of Code § 19.2-269 and our Supreme Court’s consistent interpretations of that Code section.”
Wilson v. Commonwealth, 615 S.E.2d 500 (Va. Ct. App. 2005). “” In light of Wilson’s two prior felony convictions—which, according to Code § 19.2-269, the trial court was permitted to consider when assessing his credibility—we cannot say that the trial court erred in determining that the daughter’s testimony was' more credible than that of…”
Thomas v. Com., 688 S.E.2d 220 (Va. 2010). “She acknowledges that Virginia law does not permit use of juvenile adjudications for the purpose of general impeachment of a witness' veracity on cross-examination, but she maintains that this Court should reconsider the question and hold that it was error in this case not to…”
Cole v. Commonwealth, 428 S.E.2d 303 (Va. Ct. App. 1993). “See Code § 19.2-269. Two such methods exist under current Virginia law, both of which are discussed at length in this Court’s decision in Powell v.”
Jewel v. Commonwealth, 536 S.E.2d 905 (Va. 2000). “Code § 19.2-269 provides that “[a] person convicted of a felony or perjury shall not be incompetent to testify, but the fact of conviction may be shown in evidence to affect his credit.”
Able v. Commonwealth, 431 S.E.2d 337 (Va. Ct. App. 1993). “See Code § 19.2-269. Because the nature of the offense of attempting to bribe a police officer is so inflammatory and prejudicial, defense counsel asserted that Able was denied a fair trial.”
Asby v. Commonwealth, 539 S.E.2d 742 (Va. Ct. App. 2001). “For the reasons stated, we conclude that for the limited purposes of Code § 19.2-269, the word "conviction" includes a guilty plea accepted by the court.”
Sadoski v. Commonwealth, 254 S.E.2d 100 (Va. 1979). “1975) permits an accused to testify in his own behalf in any criminal proceeding, “subject to cross-examination as any other witness .”
Dammerau v. Commonwealth, 349 S.E.2d 409 (Va. Ct. App. 1986). “Code § 19.2-269 states: “A person convicted of a felony or perjury shall not be incompetent to testify, but the fact of conviction may be shown in evidence to affect his credit.”
Chrisman v. Commonwealth, 348 S.E.2d 399 (Va. Ct. App. 1986). “Code § 19.2-269. It was not necessary for the General Assembly to statutorily state that those convicted of misdemeanors would not be incompetent as witnesses because the common law did not disqualify misdemeanants.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.