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<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>67819</law_id><section_number>19.2-188.3</section_number><catch_line>Admissibility of affidavits by government officials regarding a search of government records (Subdivision (10)(b) of Supreme Court Rule 2:803 derived from this section)</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2025/" slug="2025" current="TRUE" last_updated="">2025</edition><structure><unit label="title" level="1" order_by="1" identifier="19.2">Criminal Procedure</unit><unit label="chapter" level="2" order_by="1" identifier="12">Preliminary Hearing</unit></structure><text>
						<section><p>In any hearing or <span class="dictionary">trial</span>, an <span class="dictionary">affidavit</span> signed by a government official who is competent to testify, deemed to have <span class="dictionary">custody</span> of an official record, or signed by his designee, stating that after a diligent search, no record or entry of such record is found to exist among the records in his <span class="dictionary">custody</span>, is <span class="dictionary">admissible</span> as <span class="dictionary">evidence</span> that his office has no such record or entry, provided that, if the hearing or <span class="dictionary">trial</span> is a proceeding other than a <span class="dictionary">preliminary hearing</span>, the procedures set forth in subsection G of &#xA7;&#xA0;<a class="law" title="Providing false information or failing to provide registration information; penalty; prima facie evidence" href="/18.2-472.1/">18.2-472.1</a> for admission of an <span class="dictionary">affidavit</span> have been satisfied, <span class="dictionary">mutatis mutandis</span>, and the <span class="dictionary">accused</span> has not objected to the admission of the <span class="dictionary">affidavit</span> pursuant to the procedures set forth in subsection H of &#xA7;&#xA0;<a class="law" title="Providing false information or failing to provide registration information; penalty; prima facie evidence" href="/18.2-472.1/">18.2-472.1</a>, <span class="dictionary">mutatis mutandis</span>. Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect the admissibility of <span class="dictionary">affidavits</span> in civil cases under &#xA7;&#xA0;<a class="law" title="Nonjudicial records as evidence (Subdivision (10)(a) of Supreme Court Rule 2:803 derived from subsection C of this section)" href="/8.01-390/">8.01-390</a>.</p></section></text><history>2010, c. 464; 2011, c. 285.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
