                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

SATISFACTION AND DISCHARGE OF ASSAULT AND SIMILAR CHARGES (§ 19.2-151)

When a person is in jail or under a recognizance to answer a charge of assault
and battery or other misdemeanor, or has been indicted for an assault and
battery or other misdemeanor for which there is a remedy by civil action, unless
the offense was committed (i) by or upon any law-enforcement officer, (ii)
riotously in violation of §§ 18.2-404 to 18.2-407, (iii) against a family or
household member in violation of § 18.2-57.2, or (iv) with intent to commit a
felony, if the person injured appears before the court which made the commitment
or took the recognizance, or before the court in which the indictment is
pending, and acknowledges in writing that he has received satisfaction for the
injury, the court may, in its discretion, by an order, supersede the commitment,
discharge the recognizance, or dismiss the prosecution, upon payment by the
defendant of costs accrued to the Commonwealth or any of its officers.

HISTORY: Code 1950, § 19.1-18; 1960, c. 366; 1968, c. 639; 1975, c. 495; 1997,
c. 532; 1999, c. 963.