A college student working multiple jobs was recently stopped by the police. He did not have his restricted license paperwork on him at the time of the stop, and the officer was obligated to cite him. He was charged with driving outside of restriction (a Class 1 misdemeanor) and expired tags in Roanoke City General District Court. Later, he mixed up the court dates and showed up a day later for his case, which resulted in an a capias out for him based on his failure to appear (another Class 1 misdemeanor).
The young man’s license had already been restricted because of first-time offender treatment for a possession of marijuana charge. Worried about impacting his future even more, he hired Roanoke criminal defense attorney Cerid Lugar of Copenhaver, Ellett & Derrico to handle this matter. After reviewing the evidence, Cerid focused on negotiating a plea agreement or resolving the first-time offender case from the other jurisdiction. She attended two court dates on the client’s behalf. After speaking with the Commonwealth Attorney and the officer, Cerid was able to arrange for a dismissal provided that the client could show proof of his restricted license. The expired tags case was also dismissed provided that the client could furnish proof that the tags had been updated.
The failure to appear charge went to trial, and the client was warned to keep better track of the dates and subsequently dismissed.
Case results depend upon a variety of factors unique to each case. Case results do not guarantee or predict a similar result in any future case.