Manassas Circuit Court Information

If you are facing criminal charges and are summoned to the Manassas Circuit Court, the following is important information you should know according to a Manassas criminal defense attorney. To learn more call and schedule a consultation today.

The circuit court is on the third floor of the building and all of the cases that are heard in Prince William County Circuit Court are heard in that one spot. There are several different courtrooms of course, but all of the courtrooms are right there together.

Prosecutors in Manassas Circuit Court Cases

Well, if your case has made it to circuit court that means that these are either felony charges or an appeal from the district court of a misdemeanor charge. Both these are cases that are taken very, very seriously. Prosecutors regularly ask for prison time in felony cases and if the person is found guilty, very often they get that. So, felony cases in circuit court are not a thing to be taken lightly.

Cases in Manassas Circuit Court

Circuit court is where felony cases are tried and that could range anywhere from murder to rape and robbery all the way down to things like possession of drugs that are felonies. Any felony is tried there. The other thing that is heard in circuit court is appeals from a district court. If a person is convicted in district court, they have an absolute right to appeal that decision to the circuit court and the circuit court will hear that as a brand new trial as though nothing ever happened below. You’ll get a fresh start with circuit court if you’re convicted in general district or Juvenile Domestic Relations District Court.

Etiquette in Circuit Court in Manassas

Well, regarding etiquette in the circuit court, it’s very similar to that in other courtrooms throughout Virginia and frankly throughout the United States. A person needs to dress respectfully in the court, a person needs to always stand when they are addressing the court or when the court is addressing them. You want to address the judges respectfully and you need to be extraordinarily polite. Judges command respect and if they don’t get it, then usually there are consequences.

Dress Code in the Circuit Court in Manassas

There is no dress code in Prince William County Circuit Court per se, but I always tell people that they should dress like they’re going to church. You want to dress in a way that it shows you respect not only the court, but the members of the court, the judges, and also the process that they impart upon you. All of these are about respect and however you can dress to show that you respect what’s happening, you should do that.

Cellphone Policy in Circuit Court in Manassas

Cellphones are allowed as long as they don’t have a camera attachment. So, most cellphones are not allowed because in this day and age every single cellphone has some kind of camera. So, generally I would say no, although if you do happen to have a phone that does not have a camera attachment then you would be allowed to bring it in.

Prohibited Items in Circuit Court in Manassas

There are no weapons allowed, no toxic liquids like mace or any other harmful liquids, nothing like that is allowed and there’s also no recording devices that are allowed.

Unfortunately there are no lockers or any other places to store any items so if you bring something like that into a courthouse, you will be asked to leave and you’ll have to return to your car or however else you got there.

Parking at Manassas Circuit Court

There is parking. There is no parking garage and it is a busy courthouse and so usually the parking does fill up fairly early. So, it’s strongly recommended that people get there nice and early. It’s not unusual to see people running towards the courthouse most of the time when the docket call is about to begin.

Common Mistakes Made in Manassas Circuit Court

The most common mistake people make at the circuit court is going in without an attorney. That’s really the number one thing. Even at the circuit court level sometimes you have people who think that it’s not that big a deal, it’s not that serious of a case, it should just go away and they are often very mistaken.

However, in many cases and at that level at the circuit court level, a judge simply will not allow a person to go forward without an attorney if the case is serious enough against them. The judge will essentially try to protect a person from his or herself and prevent that person from going forward and very often will just appoint an attorney for that person even if they say they don’t want one.