Unsolicited Court FAQ Part 1:
The Felony Charges
- The court he's being arraigned (i.e. entering a plea) in is Albemarle District Court. You can follow the updates by searching here:
http://www.courts.state.va.us/caseinfo/
- Chris was charged under this law:
https://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000 cod 18.2-312
- The penalties Chris may face for a class 6 felony range from a slap on the wrist up to 5 years in jail. It'll probably be a slap on the wrist. See:
http://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title18.2/chapter1/section18.2-10/
- The state isn't throwing the book at Chris. He's only being charged for the pepper spraying, not every miscellaneous offense they could dig out of the law book.
- Only the preliminary hearings are being held in the district court. The case itself will be tried in Albemarle Circuit Court if it goes to trial. This means, among other things, that there's more likely to be an official transcript.
- Chris will be able to request a jury trial if he wants one, but since it increases the length (and therefore expense) of the trial he probably won't.
- Chris currently has a public defender. Rob Bell never worked pro bono, so there's almost no chance the Chandlers will be able to hire him again.
EDIT: Unsolicited FAQ Part 2:
Pleading Down and the Tugboat
Q: OK, but what is really going to happen?
A: The
most likely outcome of this case is Chris attempting to plead down to a lesser charge. Since class 6 felonies are the "smallest" kind of felony, he only needs to knock it down a bit more.
Q: What happens if Chris is convicted of a misdemeanor?
A: It's pretty much up to the judge. He can assign any combination of 0-12 months in county jail (not prison), and $0-2500 in fines, depending on what exactly the crime was re-classified as.
Q: What will happen to the tugboat if Chris is convicted?
A: For a misdemeanor, nothing. If he gets convicted of a felony, the tugboat stops as long as he's in prison, and then he can re-apply when he's leaving prison. Pretty much nothing can permanently sink the tugboat.
Q: What else will happen if Chris becomes a felon?
A: Chris would be classified as a non-violent felon in Virginia. He'd lose his rights to vote, serve on a jury, run for public office, own a firearm, etc. All except the firearm ownership, he'd be able to automatically have restored when his sentence was complete. If he ever wanted to own a gun, he'd have to go to circuit court to request firearm ownership rights.
Getting Section 8 housing would be considerably more difficult as a felon, but it's already pretty much impossible in Virginia even for non-felons.
And of course, it would make it harder for him to get a jaaaaawb.
EDIT2: Unsolicited FAQ Part 3:
Bail and Bond
Q: How much did Chris pay to get out of jail?
A: We probably won't know unless Chris tells us himself. In Virginia, there's no set amount of bail for any given crime - it's entirely up to the judge.
Q: What is "bonding out"?
A: You generally have two options for posting your bail: either put up the full amount of the bail in cash (or property), or hire a bail bondsman. The Chandlers almost certainly hired a bondsman. This means that you pay the bondsman 10% of your total bail, and he puts up the full amount with the court until trial. Once you appear for trial, the bondsman gets his money back from the court and keeps your 10% fee. If you put up the money yourself, you get all of it back when you appear for trial.
Q: What if Chris doesn't show up for court?
A: If he put up the full bail in cash (unlikely): he loses all the money and the court issues a bench warrant for his arrest. If he hired a bondsman, the bondsman loses all his money, and sends out Dog The Bounty Hunter to bring Chris in and extract compensation for his lost money.
Q: What if Chris commits another crime while out on bail?
A: He gets sent back to jail with some new charges, and he (or his bondsman) loses any money that was put up for bail.
