STATEMENT OF POLICY REGARDING CONTINUANCE OF CRIMINAL TRIALS FOR THE VIRGINIA BEACH CIRCUIT COURT

The court views the scheduling of a trial date as a requirement for all counsel to be prepared to conduct the trial on the date scheduled.  Continuances therefore will only be granted by the court for good cause shown.  The mere agreement of counsel to continue a case will not be deemed good cause.  Continuance motions on the day of trial are discouraged. 

Procedure

All continuance requests shall be made by written motion stating the specific grounds for the requested continuance. The use of Form No. CCJ 2-2 (commonly known as the continuance order) will satisfy this requirement.

I.                    Uncontested Motions for Continuances
Uncontested motions for continuances of a trial or hearing date may be submitted to the court for consideration prior to the scheduled trial or hearing date.  If the motion is denied, counsel may schedule a hearing with the court pursuant to the procedures set forth in section II below.

II.                  Contested Motions for Continuances / Hearings on Denied Uncontested Motions to Continue
All contested motions for continuances should be set for a hearing with the court as soon as practicable after the reason for the continuance is discovered.  All hearing requests on denied uncontested motions as set forth in section I above shall be set as soon as practicable after the denial of the motion.  Hearings shall be scheduled on the regular criminal docket.  A hearing with the duty judge may be requested if circumstances do not permit scheduling on the regular criminal docket. 

III.                Motions for Continuances on the day of trial
Continuance motions on the day of the trial or hearing are disfavored and discouraged.  In the event that a motion must be made on the day of the trial or hearing, such motion must be made on the record.

STATEMENT OF POLICY REGARDING STATUS CONFERENCES FOR CRIMINAL JURY TRIALS IN THE VIRGINIA BEACH CIRCUIT COURT

A status conference is required for all criminal jury trials. The purpose of the status conference is to ensure the trial will proceed on the scheduled trial date and to determine whether any motions hearings need to be set prior to the trial date.  

Procedure

The status conference is required to be conducted with the Circuit Court Administrator no later than 7 days prior to trial. The Circuit Court Administrator shall initiate the conference by email or by telephone. Counsel are expected to cooperate with the Circuit Court Administrator in conducting the conference. 

STATEMENT OF POLICY REGARDING STATUS CONFERENCES FOR CIVIL JURY TRIALS IN THE VIRGINIA BEACH CIRCUIT COURT

A status conference is required for all civil jury trials. The purpose of the status conference is to ensure that the trial will proceed on the scheduled trial date and to determine whether any motions hearings need to be set prior to the trial date. Pretrial motions in excess of 5 minutes total will not be entertained on the trial date.

Procedure

At least 30 days in advance of a scheduled civil jury trial date, the Circuit Court Clerk's Office will call counsel for the cases scheduled for that date and determine which cases are ready for trial. The oldest pending case ready for trial will have priority on the docket for that date.

Counsel for the case with trial priority thereafter will schedule a status conference with the Duty Judge. The status conference shall be held no later than 14 days prior to the trial date. Status conferences will be heard Monday through Friday at 2:15pm. In the discretion of the Duty Judge and depending on the complexity of the case, hearing may be held in person, by telephone, or by WebEx.