Bill Text: VA HB438 | 2024 | Regular Session | Engrossed
Bill Title: Written complaints; felony offenses to be provided.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2024-04-17 - Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0809) [HB438 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2024-HB438-Engrossed.html
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §19.2-72 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§19.2-72. When it may issue; what to recite and require.
On complaint of a criminal offense to any officer authorized
to issue criminal warrants he shall examine on oath the complainant and any
other witnesses, or when such officer shall suspect that an offense punishable
otherwise than by a fine has been committed he may, without formal complaint,
issue a summons for witnesses and shall examine such witnesses. A written
complaint shall be required if the complainant is not a law-enforcement
officer; however, if no arrest warrant is issued in response to a written
complaint made by such complainant, the written complaint shall be returned to
the complainant. A written complaint [ shall be is ]
required for a felony offense, regardless of whether the complainant is a
law-enforcement officer. If upon such examination such officer finds that
there is probable cause to believe the accused has committed an offense, such
officer shall issue a warrant for his arrest, except that no magistrate may
issue an arrest warrant for a felony offense upon the basis of a complaint by a
person other than a law-enforcement officer or an animal control officer
without prior authorization by the attorney for the Commonwealth or by a
law-enforcement agency having jurisdiction over the alleged offense. The
warrant shall (i) be directed to an appropriate officer or officers, (ii) name
the accused or, if his name is unknown, set forth a description by which he can
be identified with reasonable certainty, (iii) describe the offense charged
with reasonable certainty, (iv) command that the accused be arrested and
brought before a court of appropriate jurisdiction in the county, city or town
in which the offense was allegedly committed, and (v) be signed by the issuing
officer. If a warrant is issued for an offense in violation of any county,
city, or town ordinance that is similar to any provision of this Code, the
warrant shall reference the offense using both the citation corresponding to
the county, city, or town ordinance and the specific provision of this Code.
The warrant shall require the officer to whom it is directed to summon such
witnesses as shall be therein named to appear and give evidence on the
examination. But in a city or town having a police force, the warrant shall be
directed "To any policeman, sheriff or his deputy sheriff of such city (or
town)," and shall be executed by the policeman, sheriff or his deputy
sheriff into whose hands it shall come or be delivered. A sheriff or his deputy
may execute an arrest warrant throughout the county in which he serves and in
any city or town surrounded thereby and effect an arrest in any city or town
surrounded thereby as a result of a criminal act committed during the execution
of such warrant. A jail officer as defined in §53.1-1 employed at a regional
jail or jail farm is authorized to execute a warrant of arrest upon an accused
in his jail. The venue for the prosecution of such criminal act shall be the
jurisdiction in which the offense occurred.
