Richmond Carjacking Penalties

When charged with carjacking, the prosecutor must prove that there was a taking. They must prove that the taking was done with the intent to deprive the owner or possessor of the vehicle. For someone to be facing Richmond carjacking penalties there must have been the taking from the owner’s person or their presence. There must be proof that the taking was done against the other person’s will, and that the taking was done by means of threat, by means of force, or by means of intimidation. If you are facing similar charges and need an appropriate defense based on your desired outcome, contact an experienced carjacking attorney for help.

Possible Consequences of Carjacking Charges

There is no such thing as a misdemeanor carjacking in the State of Virginia. If an individual is facing Richmond carjacking penalties, they are being charged with a felony offense. They can get 15 to life on a felony carjacking charge.  If convicted by a jury of a carjacking, the lowest amount of time an individual can be given is 15 years and they can get all the way up to life for a single carjacking offense. Now, that means that the harshest penalty for carjacking is life imprisonment.

Effect of Prior Criminal Convictions

In the State of Virginia, there is an organization called the Virginia Sentencing Commission and they come out with a yearly report on what certain individuals charged with certain crimes should receive in penalties. Every year, the Virginia Sentencing Commission creates this document called the Virginia Sentencing Guidelines and the Virginia Sentencing Guidelines go through and list most of the Criminal Code and review certain individuals.

They address what the individual’s record looks like and the different factual elements of their particular crimes. They then categorize them and spit out essentially a number of months that someone should serve in jail if convicted of a certain crime. This form of Richmond carjacking penalties is a sliding scale will be broken down in months to show how much time an individual should serve either on the low end, midpoint or high end of a sliding scale.

Determining Sentencing

A judge’s sentence determining Richmond carjacking penalties will be within the guidelines, between the low end, the high end, or sometimes down the midpoint. There must be a written reason to the Virginia Sentencing Commission for why they choose their sentence. An individual has to look at the guidelines. If an individual has prior criminal convictions and they are charged with carjacking, then the guidelines are more than likely going to be higher than if they did not have a prior criminal conviction.

Depending on what the criminal conviction is, it may affect an individual’s ability to testify on their own behalf. It may affect an individual’s ability to be charged with other crimes such a probation violations or show causes. Having criminal convictions on an individual’s record is not good for new crime violations especially when they are dealing with a violent and dangerous offense such as carjacking.

Richmond Carjacking Lawyer