Conspiracy Charges
If you have been charged with conspiracy in Virginia, you need a good criminal defense lawyer. There are three different laws that criminalize conspiracy in Virginia, each with different provisions that we will discuss below.
Conspiracy to commit a felony
Virginia Code section 18.2-22 is the most general section that addresses conspiracies in the Commonwealth. It provides that it is a crime either to conspire, either within or outside of Virginia, to commit a felony in Virginia, or to conspire within Virginia to commit a felony outside of the Commonwealth.
This section applies to all felony crimes except for those contained in the Virginia Drug Control Act.
Conspiring to commit a Class 1 felony is a class 3 felony, punishable by five to twenty years of incarceration and a fine of up to $100,000.
Conspiring to commit any other class of felony is a class 5 felony, punishable by incarceration for one to ten years or imprisonment for up to twelve months and/or a fine of up to $2,500.
The general conspiracy law in Virginia specifies that a person sentenced for committing conspiracy cannot be punished by more than the maximum sentence for committing the crime itself.
Drug conspiracy
The Virginia Drug Control Act contains Virginia Code section 18.2-256, making it a crime to conspire to commit any of the crimes in the Act. It specifies that the sentencing range for conspiracy to commit any of the acts prohibited in the Drug Control Act shall be the same as the sentencing range for the underlying crime.
Conspiracy to commit trespass or larceny
Virginia Code section 18.2-23(A) makes it a crime to conspire to trespass on to the property of another. Violating this paragraph of the statute is a class 3 misdemeanor and the maximum sentence is a fine of $500.
Paragraph B of this section states that it is a felony to conspire to commit larceny of goods worth $1,000 or more. If a person is found guilty of violating this paragraph, then the sentence is one to twenty years in prison