Circuit Courts

CIRCUIT COURTS

In Virginia, there are 31 judicial circuits and 122 separate circuits courts throughout the various jurisdictions. There are 150 Circuit Court judges in Virginia. The number of circuit court judges serving each circuit varies, a small as two, to as large as 14 judges in larger jurisdictions. A circuit court judge is elected to a eight year term by majority vote of both houses of Virginia's General Assembly. (If the General Assembly is not in session when a vacancy need to be filled, the Governor can appoint a judge until the General Assembly is again in session). Circuit Court judges are required to live within the circuit they serve and to have been a licensed attorney a least 5 years before being elected (or appointed).

The Circuit Court is the only trial court of general jurisdiction in Virginia. It has authority to try a variety of criminal and civil cases, including:

civil suits between $3,000 and $15,000 (concurrent with General District Courts)
civil suits exceeding $15,000
divorce cases
disputes over wills, trusts, estates, and other property matters
adoption proceedings
validity of a county or municipal ordinance or corporate bylaw
petitions to remove Constitutional Officers from office
impanel regular and special grand juries
felony cases (including juveniles who have been certified to he heard as adults)
misdemeanor appeal cases (from both General and Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Courts)
any case for which jurisdiction is not specified in the Code of Virginia

As in the lower courts, General District Courts and Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Courts, defendants have the right to remain silent and can make the choice not to testify. Defendants in Circuit Court also are presumed innocent until proven guilty and have the right to be represented by counsel, either retained by the defendant or appointed by the Court. Individuals who have appealed their misdemeanor or traffic infractions, as well as those charged with felonies may request a jury trial in Circuit Court. The Commonwealth Attorney's Office, the office that prosecutes cases in Circuit Court, may also request a jury.

In Circuit Court, defendants are entitled to a jury trial, but they may consent to a trial conducted by the judge as the fact-finder. (Defendants are entitled to a jury trial only if they plead not guilty. Pleas of 'guilty' or 'no contest' are heard by the judge.) If the defendant chooses to be tried by a jury, he or she has a Constitutional right to a 'jury of his/her peers', a jury selected from a cross-section of the community. Members of a circuit court jury are selected from a master list prepared by jury commissioners appointed by the circuit court. This list is created by random selection from the voter registration list and other lists of citizens of the jurisdiction served by the circuit court. Citizens must be aged 18 or older. The list of prospective jurors summoned for a particular term of court, must reflect the composition of the community as a whole and may not be discriminatory by race, color, creed, or age, gender.

If the accused feels that an impartial jury panel cannot be obtained locally (usually due to extraordinary pretrial publicity), he or she can request a change of venue or change of venire by filing a motion before trial date. In a change of venue, the entire case is transferred to another jurisdiction within the Commonwealth and tried therein. In a change of venire, the jury list is obtained from another circuit and these non-resident prospective jurors are transported from their own community into the original court for juror selection. The trial judge will decide the issue and has authority to order such a change.

A jury panel usually contains more potential jurors than will be needed to hear a case. The prosecutor and the defense attorney share the duty in paring down the jury pool to the number needed. Twelve jurors are required for a felony trial; seven are selected for a misdemeanor jury trial. To reach the required number, prospective jurors may be removed from the panel if they have expressed or formed any opinion, bias, or prejudice which might interfere with their rendering a fair and impartial verdict. Also, each side is allowed to strike three or four jurors (depending on the type of case) for no given cause.

Misdemeanor charges appealed from the district court to circuit court are heard de novo in circuit court, meaning that the cases are tried from the beginning as if they have never been heard before. The Circuit Court judge has the responsibility of determining guilt or innocence and setting punishment if the defendant is again convicted. If convicted, the defendant is bound only by the punishment received in the Circuit Court; however, he must pay the court costs for not only the Circuit Court hearing, but also the costs of the hearing in the lower court.

When a jury hears a misdemeanor or felony case, and determines guilt and punishment, the defendant must also pay fees for jurors. The state pays for a court appointed attorney if the defendant is acquitted, but if he or she is convicted, the defendant must also pay the state-determined court-appointed attorney's fees. In addition to court costs, there may also be fines and/or restitution imposed on the defendant as a part of the sentence. The court or the clerk's office will usually set a deadline for payment and a payment plan. Payment plans can also be determined by the offender's probation officer. Fines collected for violations of state law are deposited in the State Literary Fund, a permanent school fund established and required by Virginia's state constitution. In addition to paying court-appointed attorney's fees, fees also may be used to pay such expenses as Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund fees, or fees for witnesses, interpreters, or blood analysis.

The final decision of the Circuit Court may be appealed to either the Court of Appeals or the Virginia Supreme Court, depending on the charges against the defendant. If a case is appealed, however, the evidence of the case will not be reheard, nor will witnesses need to reappear for the appellate hearing. Instead, attorneys present briefs on certain points of the law or procedure. The defendant or his attorney usually allege that the defendant's Constitutional rights were violated or that the Circuit Court erred in some aspect of trial. For more information, see Court of Appeals or Virginia Supreme Court. Usually, an appeal will end a Circuit Court's involvement with a case, unless one of the higher courts remand the case back to the Circuit Court for a new trial or sentencing hearing.

For more information on Circuit Courts, follow this link: Courts in Brief: Circuit Courts.