CHAPTER 476

An Act to amend the Code of Virginia by adding in Chapter 5 of Title 46.1
an article numbered 7, containing sections numbered 46.1-887.1
through 46.1-887.12, stating the policy of the State relating to habitual
offenders against the motor vehicle laws, classifying certain offenders
as habitual offenders, providing procedure for judicial determination
of such status, prescribing the period during which such offenders
shall be prohibited from operating a motor vehicle on public highways
in Virginia, fixing penalties for such operation during such period,
providing for restoration of privilege to operate motor vehicles under
certain conditions, and providing for appeals. rH 104]

Approved April 4, 1968

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That the Code of Virginia be amended by adding in Chapter 5 of
Title 46.1 an article numbered 7, containing sections numbered 46.1-387.1
through 46.1-387.12, as follows:
Article 7
Habitual Offenders

§ 46.1-387.1. It is hereby declared to be the policy of Virginia: (1)
To provide maximum safety for all persons who travel or otherwise use
the public highways of the State; and

(2) To deny the privilege of operating motor vehicles on such high-
ways to persons who by their conduct and record have demonstrated their
indifference for the safety and welfare of others and their disrespect for
the laws of the Commonwealth, the orders of her courts and the statutorily
required acts of her administrative agencies; and

(8) To discourage repetition of criminal acts by individuals against
the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth and her political subdivisions
and to impose increased and added deprivation of the privilege to operate
motor vehicles upon habitual offenders who have been convicted repeatedly
of violations of traffic laws.

§ 46.1-387.2. An habitual offender shall be any person, resident or
nonresident, whose record, as maintained in the office of the Division of
Motor Vehicles, shows that such person has accumulated the convictions,
or findings of not innocent in the case of a juvenile, for separate and
distinct offenses, described in subsections (a), (b) and (c), of this section,
committed within a ten year period, provided that where more than one
included offense shall be committed within a six hour period such mul-
tiple offenses shall, on the first such occasion, be treated for the purposes
of this article as one offense provided the person charged has no record
of prior offenses chargeable under this article, and provided further the
date of the offense most recently committed occurs on or after the effective
date of this article and within ten years of the date of all other offenses
the conviction for which is included in subsections (a), (b) or (c) as
ollows:

(a) Three or more convictions, or findings of not innocent in the case
of a juvenile, singularly or in combination, of the following separate and
distinct offenses arising out of separate acts.

(1) Voluntary or involuntary manslaughter resulting from the opera-
tion of a motor vehicle;

(2) Driving or operating a motor vehicle while under the influence
of intoxicants or drugs in violation of § 18.1-54; ae

) Driving or operating a motor vehicle while impaired in violation
of § 18.1-56.1; _

(4) Driving a motor vehicle while his license, permit or privilege to
drive a motor vehicle has been suspended or revoked in violation of
§§ 18.1-60, 46.1-350 or 46.1-351;

(5) Willfully operating a motor vehicle without a license so to do;

(6) Knowingly making any false affidavit or swearing or affirming
falsely to any matter or thing required by the motor vehicle laws or as
te aaLis, required in the administration of such laws in violation
Oo 1-15;

(7) Any offense punishable as a felony under the motor vehicle laws
of Virginia or any felony in the commission of which a motor vehicle is
used ;
(8) Failure of the driver of a motor vehicle involved in an accident
resulting in the death or injury of any person to stop close to the scene
of such accident and report his identity in violation of § 46.1-176; or

(9) Failure of the driver of a motor vehicle involved in an accident
resulting only in damage to an attended or unattended vehicle or other
property in excess of $250.00 to stop close to the scene of such accident
and report his identity or otherwise report such accident in violation of
aw.

(b) Twelve or more convictions, or findings of not innocent in the
case of a juvenile, of separate and distinct offenses, singularly or in com-
bination, in the operation of a motor vehicle which are required to be
reported to the Division of Motor Vehicles and the commission whereof
requires the Division of Motor Vehicles or authorizes a court to suspend
or revoke the privilege to operate motor vehicles on the highways of this
State for a period of thirty days or more and such convictions shall
include those offenses enumerated in subsection (a) above when taken
with and added to those offenses described herein.

(c) The offenses included in subsections (a) and (b) hereof shall be
deemed to include offenses under any valid town, city or county ordinance
paralleling and substantially conforming to the State statutory provisions
cited in subsections (a) and (b) hereof and all changes in or amendments
thereof, and any federal law, any law of another state or any valid town,
city or county ordinance of another state substantially conforming to the
aforesaid State statutory provisions.

§ 46.1-387.3. The Commissioner of the Division of Motor Vehicles
shall certify, substantially in the manner provided for in § 46.1-34.1, three
transcripts or abstracts of the conviction record as maintained in the office
of the Division of Motor Vehicles of any person whose record brings him
within the definition of an habitual offender, as defined in § 46.1-387.2 to
the attorney for the Commonwealth of the political subdivision in which
such person resides according to the records of the Division or the attorney
for the Commonwealth of the city of Richmond if such person is not a
resident of this State. Such transcript or abstract may be admitted as
evidence as provided in § 46.1-34.1. Such transcript or abstract shall be
prima facie evidence that the person named therein was duly convicted,
or held not innocent in the case of a juvenile, by the court wherein such
conviction or holding was made, of each offense shown by such transcript
or abstract; and if such person shall deny any of the facts as stated
therein, he shall have the burden of proving that such fact is untrue. .

§ 46.1-387.4. The attorney for the Commonwealth, upon receiving
the aforesaid transcripts or abstracts from the Commissioner, shall forth-
with file information against the person named therein in the court of
record having jurisdiction of criminal offenses in the political subdivision
In which such person resides. In the event such person is a nonresident
of this State, the attorney for the Commonwealth of the city of Richmond
shall file information against the accused person in the Circuit Court of
the City of Richmond.

§ 46.1-387.5. The court in which such information is filed shall enter
an order, which incorporates the aforesaid transcript or abstract and is
directed to the person named therein, to show cause why he should not be
barred from operating a motor vehicle on the highways of this State. A
copy of the show cause order and such transcript or abstract shall be
served on the person named therein in the manner prescribed by law for
the service of notices. Service thereof on any nonresident of the State may
be made by the Commissioner of the Division of Motor Vehicles in the
Same manner as in any action or proceeding arising out of a collision on
the highways of this State in the manner provided in §§ 8-67.1 and 8-67.2,
which are hereby made applicable mutatis mutandis to these proceedings,
and the Commonwealth shall pay a fee of five dollars to the Commissioner
for making such service and such fee shall be taxed against the defendant
as a part of the cost of such proceeding.

If such person denies he was convicted or held not innocent of any
offense necessary for a holding that he is an habitual offender, and if the
court cannot, on the evidence available to it, make such determination, the
court may certify the decision of such issue to the court in which such
conviction or holding of not innocent was made. The court to which such
certification is made shall forthwith conduct a hearing to determine such
issue and send a certified copy of its final order determining such issue to
the court in which such information was filed.

§ 46.1-387.6. If the court finds that such person is not the same
person named in the aforesaid transcript or abstract, or that he is not an
habitual offender under this article, the proceeding shall be dismissed;
but if the court finds that such person is the same person named in the
aforesaid transcript or abstract and that such person is an habitual
offender, the court shall so find and by appropriate order direct such
person not to operate a motor vehicle on the highways of the Common-
wealth of Virginia and to surrender to the court all licenses or permits
to operate a motor vehicle on the highways of this State for disposal in
the manner provided in § 46.1-425. The clerk of the court shall file with
the Division of Motor Vehicles a copy of such order which shall become
a part of the permanent records of the Division.

§ 46.1-387.7. No license to operate motor vehicles in Virginia shall
be issued to an habitual offender, (1) for a period of ten years from the
date of the order of the court finding such person to be an habitual offender,
and (2) until the privilege of such person to operate a motor vehicle in
this State has been restored by an order of a court of record entered in
a proceeding as hereinafter provided.

§ 46.1-387.8. It shall be unlawful for any person to operate any
motor vehicle in this State while the order of the court prohibiting such
operation remains in effect. Any person found to be an habitual offender
under the provisions of this article who is thereafter convicted of operat-
ing a motor vehicle in this State while the order of the court prohibiting
such operation is in effect, shall be punished by confinement in the peni-
tentiary not less than one nor more than five years and no portion of such
sentence shall be suspended, except that in cases wherein such operation
is necessitated in situations of apparent extreme emergency which require
such operation to save life or limb, said sentence, or any part thereof may
be suspended.

For the purpose of enforcing this section, in any case in which the
accused is charged with driving a motor vehicle while his license, permit
or privilege to drive is suspended or revoked or is charged with driving
without a license, the court before hearing such charge shall determine
whether such person has been held an habitual offender and by reason of
such holding is barred from operating a motor vehicle on the highways
of this State. If the court determines the accused has been so held, it
shall certify the case to the court of record of its jurisdiction for trial.

§ 46.1-887.9. At the expiration of ten years from the date of any
final order of a court entered under the provisions of this article, finding
a person to be an habitual offender and directing him not to operate a
motor vehicle in this State, such person may petition the court in which
he was found to be an habitual offender, or any court of record in Vir-
ginia having criminal jurisdiction in the political subdivision in which
such person then resides, for restoration of his privilege to operate a
motor vehicle in this State. Upon such petition, and for good cause
shown, such court may, in its discretion, restore to such person the priv-
ilege to operate a motor vehicle in this State upon such terms and con-
ditions as the court may prescribe, subject to other provisions of law
relating to the issuance of operators’ or chauffeurs’ licenses.

§ 46.1-3887.10. An appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeals of Vir-
ginia may be had from any final action or order of a court of record
entered under the provisions of this article in the same manner and form
as such an appeal would be noted, perfected and tried in any criminal
case.

§ 46.1-387.11. Nothing in this article shall be construed as amend-
ing, modifying or repealing any existing law of Virginia or any existing
ordinance of any political subdivision relating to the operation or licensing
of motor vehicles, the licensing of persons to operate motor vehicles or
providing penalties for the violation thereof; or shall be construed so as
to preclude the exercise of the regulatory powers of any division, agency,
department or political subdivision of the Commonwealth having the stat-
utory power to regulate such operation and licensing.

§ 46.1-387.12. This article shall be known and may be cited as the
“Virginia Habitual Offender Act.”