19.2-66 - When Attorney General or Chief Deputy Attorney General may apply for order authorizing interception of communications.
§ 19.2-66. When Attorney General or Chief Deputy Attorney General may applyfor order authorizing interception of communications.
A. The Attorney General or Chief Deputy Attorney General, if the AttorneyGeneral so designates in writing, in any case where the Attorney General isauthorized by law to prosecute or pursuant to a request in his officialcapacity of an attorney for the Commonwealth in any city or county, may applyto a judge of competent jurisdiction for an order authorizing theinterception of wire, electronic or oral communications by the Department ofState Police, when such interception may reasonably be expected to provideevidence of the commission of a felonious offense of extortion, bribery,kidnapping, murder, any felony violation of § 18.2-248 or 18.2-248.1, anyfelony violation of Chapter 29 (§ 59.1-364 et seq.) of Title 59.1, any felonyviolation of Article 2 (§ 18.2-38 et seq.), Article 2.1 (§ 18.2-46.1 etseq.), Article 2.2 (§ 18.2-46.4 et seq.), Article 5 (§ 18.2-58 et seq.),Article 6 (§ 18.2-59 et seq.) or any felonies that are not Class 6 feloniesin Article 7 (§ 18.2-61 et seq.) of Chapter 4 of Title 18.2, or anyconspiracy to commit any of the foregoing offenses. The Attorney General orChief Deputy Attorney General may apply for authorization for the observationor monitoring of the interception by a police department of a county or cityor by law-enforcement officers of the United States. Such application shallbe made, and such order may be granted, in conformity with the provisions of§ 19.2-68.
B. The application for an order under subsection B of § 19.2-68 for theinterception of a wire, electronic or oral communication shall be made in thejurisdiction where there is probable cause to believe that an offense listedin subsection A of this section was committed, is being committed, or will becommitted.
1. In the case of an application for a wire or electronic interception, ajudge of competent jurisdiction shall have the authority to issue an orderunder subsection B of § 19.2-68 if the person or persons whose communicationsare to be intercepted live, work, subscribe to a wire or electroniccommunication system, maintain an address or a post office box, or are makingthe communication within the territorial jurisdiction of the court.
2. In the case of an application for an oral intercept, a judge of competentjurisdiction shall have the authority to issue an order under subsection B of§ 19.2-68 if the physical location of the oral communication to beintercepted is within the territorial jurisdiction of the court.
3. For the purposes of an order entered pursuant to subsection B of § 19.2-68for the interception of a wire or electronic communication, suchcommunication shall be deemed to be intercepted in the jurisdiction where theorder is entered, regardless of the physical location or the method by whichthe communication is captured or routed to the monitoring location.
(Code 1950, § 19.1-89.6; 1973, c. 442; 1975, c. 495; 1976, c. 271; 1979, c.602; 1982, cc. 40, 274; 1988, cc. 855, 889; 2002, cc. 588, 623; 2004, c. 122;2005, c. 934.)