Virginia Driving Under Influence Eluding Police Alcohol

Virginia Driving Under Influence Eluding Police Alcohol

MARTIN L. SHAW v. COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

Court of Appeals of Virginia

9 Va. App. 331

Whether the 1984 amendment to Code 46.1-192.1 changed the offense of eluding a police officer so that it no longer constituted the offense of reckless driving?

The appellant contends that when he was convicted of eluding a police officer he was convicted of reckless driving and, therefore, Code 19.2-294.1 bars his conviction for the concurrent charge of driving while intoxicated in violation of the Fairfax County ordinance.

The Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that a 1984 amendment to Code 46.1-192.1 (now Code 46.2-817) eliminated the language that provided that anyone violating the statute was guilty of reckless driving. Thus, the Court held that violation of Code 46.1-192.1 is not reckless driving and that a prosecution for driving under the influence following a conviction for violation of Code 46.1-192.1 is not barred by Code 19-2-294.1.

The legislature saw fit in 1984 to change the punishment for eluding a police officer, the deleting of the reckless driving language did not affect a change. Also, the location of the statute in Article 3, Chapter 4 of Title 46.1 does not control the nature of the offense. Even so, Article 3 contains a number of offenses other than reckless driving. Retaining a headline after the 1984 amendment similar to that which appeared prior to the amendment, "Same [connoting reckless driving]; disregarding signal to stop by police officers; penalties," does not control the classification of the statute or take precedence over the language adopted by the legislature."

Disclaimer:

These summaries are provided by the SRIS Law Group. They represent the firm's unofficial views of the Justices' opinions. The original opinions should be consulted for their authoritative content.

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