Chap. 53.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 4989 of the Code of Virginia,
as heretofore amended, relating to appeals in criminal cases, so as to authorize
an appeal after a plea of guilty. {H B 81]

Approved March 2, 1938

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That sec-
tion forty-nine hundred and eighty-nine of the Code of Virginia, as
heretofore amended, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as fol-
lows:

Section 4989. Any person convicted by a justice under the pro-
visions of this chapter shall have the right, at any time within ten days
from such conviction, and whether or not such conviction was upon a
plea of guilty, to appeal to the circuit court of the county or corpora-
tion or hustings court of the corporation, as the case may be, and in
event of such appeal the same shall be heard de novo. When an appeal
is taken at the time the judgment is rendered, the accused shall, unless
Jet to bail, be committed to jail by the justice until the next term of
such court, and the witnesses recognized to appear at the same time.
When an appeal is taken subsequent to the entry of the judgment of
conviction, the justice shall enter the allowance of the appeal on the
warrant, and he, or the circuit court of the county or corporation or
hustings court of the corporation, or the judge thereof, as the case
may be, may admit the accused to bail. The justice shall forthwith
return and file papers with the clerk of the court, whether the appeal
be applied for or not. Upon the trial of the warrant in the circuit
court of the county or corporation or hustings court of the corpora-
tion, the court shall have authority upon its own motion, or upon the
request either of the attorney for the Commonwealth, or for the ac-
cused, to amend the form of the warrant in any respect in which it
appears to be defective. But when the warrant is so defective in form
that it does not substantially appear from the same what is the offense
with which the accused is charged, or even when it is not so seriously
defective, the judge of the court having examined on oath the original
complainant, if there be one, or if he sees good reason to believe that
an offense has been committed, then without examination of witnesses
may issue under his own hand his warrant, reciting the offense and
requiring the defendant in the original warrant to be arrested and
brought before him. Upon the arrest of the defendant on the new
warrant and his production or appearance in court the trial shall pro-
ceed upon the new warrant. Where there is an amendment of the
original warrant the trial shall proceed on the amended warrant. But
whether the warrant is amended or new warrant is issued, the court
before proceeding to trial on the same may grant a continuance to the
Commonwealth, or to the prisoner upon such terms as to costs as may
be proper under the circumstances of. the case.

Where a warrant is amended or a new warrant is issued the costs
already accrued shall be taxed against the defendant, if he is ultimately
convicted, as a part of the costs arising under the new or amended
warrant. But the Commonwealth shall not be liable for the costs of
the defendant.

In any case involving the violation of a law relating to the State
revenue tried by a justice under the provisions of the aforesaid sec-
tions, the Commonwealth shall also have the right, at any time within
ten days from final judgment, to appeal to the circuit court of the
county or corporation or hustings court of the corporation as the case
may be.