19.2-269.1 - Inmates as witnesses in criminal cases. - Virginia Statutes

§ 19.2-269.1. Inmates as witnesses in criminal cases.

Whenever the Commonwealth or a defendant in a criminal prosecution in anycircuit court in this Commonwealth requires as a witness in his behalf, aninmate in a state or local correctional facility as defined in § 53.1-1, thecourt, on the application of such defendant or his attorney, or the attorneyfor the Commonwealth, shall issue an order to the Director of the Departmentof Corrections to deliver such witness to the sheriff of the jurisdiction ofthe court issuing the order. If authorized by the court, the clerk of thecircuit court or a deputy clerk may issue these orders on behalf of thecourt. The sheriff shall go where such witness may then be and carry him tothe court to testify as such witness, and after he has testified and beenreleased as such witness, carry him back to the place whence he came, for allof which service the sheriff shall be paid out of the criminal expense fundsin the state treasury such compensation as the court in which the case ispending may certify to be reasonable.

(Code 1950, § 8-300; 1966, c. 227; 1974, cc. 44, 45; 1977, c. 624; 2002, cc.515, 544.)