Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 19.2 > Chapter 17 - Convictions; Effect Thereof

• Acquittal:
  1. Judgement that a criminal defendant has not been proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
  2. A verdict of "not guilty."
   
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• County: means any existing county or such unit hereafter created. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
• Court: means any court vested with appropriate jurisdiction under the Constitution and laws of the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 19.2-5
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
• local government: shall be construed to mean a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
• Personal estate: includes chattels real and such other estate as, upon the death of the owner intestate, would devolve upon his personal representative. See Virginia Code 1-233
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• state agency: means the same as that term is defined in § Virginia Code 1-206
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Town: means any existing town or an incorporated community within one or more counties which became a town before noon, July one, nineteen hundred seventy-one, as provided by law or which has within defined boundaries a population of 1,000 or more and which has become a town as provided by law. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.