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<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>54588</law_id><section_number>19.2-265.1</section_number><catch_line>Exclusion of witnesses (Subsection (a) of Supreme Court Rule 2:615 derived in part from this section and subsection (c) of Supreme Court Rule 2:615 derived from this section)</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2025/" slug="2025" current="TRUE" last_updated="">2025</edition><referred_to_by><reference>19.2-265.5</reference></referred_to_by><structure><unit label="title" level="1" order_by="1" identifier="19.2">Criminal Procedure</unit><unit label="chapter" level="2" order_by="1" identifier="15">Trial and Its Incidents</unit><unit label="article" level="3" order_by="1" identifier="5">Miscellaneous Provisions</unit></structure><text>
						<section><p>In the <span class="dictionary">trial</span> of every criminal case, the <span class="dictionary">court</span>, whether a <span class="dictionary">court</span> of record or a <span class="dictionary">court</span> not of record, may upon its own <span class="dictionary">motion</span> and shall upon the <span class="dictionary">motion</span> of either the attorney for the Commonwealth or any <span class="dictionary">defendant</span>, require the exclusion of every <span class="dictionary">witness</span> to be called, including, but not limited to, police officers or other investigators; however, each <span class="dictionary">defendant</span> who is an individual and one officer or agent of each <span class="dictionary">defendant</span> which is a corporation or association shall be exempt from the rule of this section as a matter of right. Additionally, any victim as defined in &#xA7;&#xA0;<a class="law" title="Crime victim and witness rights" href="/19.2-11.01/">19.2-11.01</a> who is to be called as a <span class="dictionary">witness</span> shall be exempt from the rule of this section as a matter of <span class="dictionary">law</span> unless, in accordance with the provisions of &#xA7;&#xA0;<a class="law" title="Victims, certain members of the family and support persons not to be excluded" href="/19.2-265.01/">19.2-265.01</a>, his exclusion is otherwise required.</p></section></text><history>Code 1950, &#xA7; 8-211.1; 1966, c. 268; 1975, c. 652; 1977, c. 624; 1990, c. 572; 2004, c. 311.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
