Felony as a juvenile, now is an adult 25 years later

[stuffinthepast]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Virginia

I posted a story on an Internet forum about a scary story from my childhood. When I was 14 years old, in 1985, another boy and I were throwing dirt clods at cars at night. Someone stopped, got out, and stalked us through the woods for hours trying to catch us. We got away.

So a day after posting this I get a nasty email from another forum member stating "There is NO statute of limitations on FELONIES in Virginia!!!" And a couple of days after that I get a voicemail from the Sheriff's Department in the county where it happened about a "rock-throwing incident".

I have not returned the call, as I intend on retaining counsel before doing so.

I am not trying to defend what we did. It is a felony, and it could have caused a very serious accident. However we were 14 year old boys and stupid. I will point out that we never did anything like that again. I am now 39, engaged, and am in the process of buying a home. I also have a career and a government security clearance.

With a felony conviction I can kiss that clearance and my career goodbye. I can probably also kiss the house goodbye. A felony conviction would ruin my whole life.

several questions:

This crime was committed when I was a juvenile. Will it be tried in adult court? In 1985 Virginia, there was no provision to try juveniles as adults.

Would the court see the fact that I was 14 at the time as a mitigating factor? Or would it be treated as if I did it yesterday? I have no criminal record.

I can find no record of a case like this being tried anywhere. It seems ridiculous that the commonwealth's attorney office would want to try someone for throwing dirt clods at cars, 25 years after the crime, when nobody got hurt. The only thing I can think of was the Kennedy cousin who was thrown in prison, but that was for a first-degree murder. Not a dumb prank.

I wish we had got caught back then. The record would have been expunged decades ago and it would not have any impact on my standing now.

 

[stuffinthepast]

one more

If this goes to trial will they need to have victim testimony? I believe that there is about zero chance of finding that person. I have utterly no idea who it was that chased us through the woods.

 

[racer72]

The only felonies in Virginia that do not have an SOL are murder and sex crimes against minors. None of the others are more than 5 years. This would likely be a misdemeanor anyway. You have nothing to worry about.

 

[StevenJ_420Law]

Weird..
If they got nothing, which sounds like they are fishing for you, simply invoke your rights and they can go get stuffed. If it makes you feel better to pay a lawyer to invoke your rights, go for it. I would have nothing to say to them.

 

[FlyingRon]

The only felonies in Virginia that do not have an SOL are murder and sex crimes against minors.

You might be inclined to believe that reading the summary in FIND LAW but it is extremely misleading in the way
it is formatted.

The only things that have limitations are what is specifically listed in 19-2.8. With small exception FELONIES do not have any limitation in Virginia.
There is a .1 section that specifically exempts murder and manslaughter from limitation, but in fact, it's spurious as they wouldn't have been limited
anyhow under the original version of the statute.

 

[Zigner]

I think somebody's yanking your chain.