18.2-57.3 - Persons charged with first offense of assault and battery against a family or household member may be placed on local community-based probation; conditions; education and treatment program
§ 18.2-57.3. Persons charged with first offense of assault and batteryagainst a family or household member may be placed on local community-basedprobation; conditions; education and treatment programs; costs and fees;violations; discharge.
A. When a person is charged with a violation of § 18.2-57.2, the court maydefer the proceedings against such person, without a finding of guilt, andplace him on probation under the terms of this section.
B. For a person to be eligible for such deferral, the court shall find that(i) the person was an adult at the time of the commission of the offense,(ii) the person has not previously been convicted of any offense under thisarticle or under any statute of the United States or of any state or anyordinance of any local government relating to assault and battery against afamily or household member, (iii) the person has not previously had aproceeding against him for violation of such an offense dismissed as providedin this section, (iv) the person pleads guilty to, or enters a plea of notguilty or nolo contendere and the court finds the evidence is sufficient tofind the person guilty of, a violation of § 18.2-57.2, and (v) the personconsents to such deferral.
C. The court may (i) where a local community-based probation services agencyestablished pursuant to Article 9 (§ 9.1-173 et seq.) of Chapter 1 of Title9.1 is available, order that the eligible person be placed with such agencyand require, as a condition of local community-based probation, the person tosuccessfully complete all treatment, education programs or services, or anycombination thereof indicated by an assessment or evaluation obtained by thelocal community-based probation services agency if such assessment, treatmentor education services are available; or (ii) require successful completion oftreatment, education programs or services, or any combination thereof, suchas, in the opinion of the court, may be best suited to the needs of theperson.
D. The court shall require the person entering such education or treatmentprogram or services under the provisions of this section to pay all or partof the costs of the program or services, including the costs of anyassessment, evaluation, testing, education and treatment, based upon theperson's ability to pay. Such programs or services shall offer asliding-scale fee structure or other mechanism to assist participants who areunable to pay the full costs of the required programs or services.
The court shall order the person to be of good behavior for a total period ofnot less than two years following the deferral of proceedings, including theperiod of supervised probation, if available.
The court shall, unless done at arrest, order the person to report to theoriginal arresting law-enforcement agency to submit to fingerprinting.
E. Upon fulfillment of the terms and conditions specified in the court order,the court shall discharge the person and dismiss the proceedings against him.Discharge and dismissal under this section shall be without adjudication ofguilt and is a conviction only for the purposes of applying this section insubsequent proceedings. No charges dismissed pursuant to this section shallbe eligible for expungement under § 19.2-392.2.
F. Upon violation of a term or condition of supervised probation or of theperiod of good behavior, the court may enter an adjudication of guilt andproceed as otherwise provided by law.
G. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, whenever a courtplaces a person on probation upon terms and conditions pursuant to thissection, such action shall be treated as a conviction for purposes of §18.2-308.
(1999, c. 963; 2000, c. 1040; 2003, cc. 33, 38; 2004, c. 377; 2007, c. 133;2009, cc. 313, 347.)