By Rebecca Wade

Virginia recently passed a new statute allowing for post-conviction sentence reductions for prisoners in exchange for their cooperation in specific criminal cases. Criminal defense attorney Rebecca Wade offers insights into how this amendment benefits prosecutors and what it means for prisoners who possess information in ongoing cases.

What Changed With Post-Conviction Sentence Reductions?

“Up until this year, Virginia had no statutes that allowed for any sentence reduction due to cooperation with the prosecution,” says Wade. “If you wanted to cooperate in a case, you wanted to try to do so early on. And you were really relying on prosecutorial discretion — hoping that since you were cooperating, the prosecution may go easier on you.” Whether a person’s cooperation counted for anything largely depended on what county they were in and the culture and policies of the prosecutor’s office. However, Virginia’s new statute makes early cooperation less important because prison terms can now be reduced after sentencing.

Continuing Cooperation

Wade explains that because the law allows for continuing cooperation, it is largely geared towards ‘jailhouses snitches’. “Say you’re in jail and you hear somebody confess to something, or you gain information after sentencing. That allows you to go back and have your sentence reduced,” says Wade. “Before in Virginia, you couldn’t do that, so if you were in prison and your ‘bunkie’ confessed to a murder, there was no way to get your sentence reduced by cooperating. Now there is.”  

This new statute largely benefits the prosecution because a testimony from someone who’s already been sentenced with a significant amount of time holds some weight. “It sends a message to the jury that the charges the defendant is facing are very serious, which can be very helpful for the prosecutor.”

What Crimes Can Have Their Sentences Reduced?

One thing that’s particularly interesting about this statute, is that it limits the crimes for which a sentence can be reduced after sentencing. “The only thing that this statute allows for are crimes of violence and drug crimes,” says Wade.

About the Author

This is a photo of Rebecca Wade. She is a family law and criminal defense attorney at Old Town Lawyers.

Rebecca Janet Wade

Rebecca Wade is a partner at Wade Grimes Friedman Meinken & Leischner PLLC, practicing in all areas of family law and criminal law having experience with protective orders, divorce, child custody and visitation, child protective services investigations, juvenile delinquency, and criminal charges.

Wade has been named a 2023 Best Lawyer in America by U.S. News & World Report, a 2023 Super Lawyer in Northern Virginia and Washington D.C., and a 2020-2021 Top Lawyer by Northern Virginia Magazine.

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