Criminal Court

If you are a defense attorney requesting a continuance regarding a felony case, you must contact the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office at (757) 385-4401. If you are the defendant, you must appear in court. The court will not entertain continuance requests without an updated pretrial report if the defendant is being supervised.

If you are requesting a continuance for a misdemeanor charge and both parties are not in agreement for the continuance, then you must appear in court on the day of the assigned date and make your request before the judge. 

If you or someone acting on your behalf cannot be in court to request a continuance in your place, you may fax a letter to (757) 385-1065 or mail a letter requesting a continuance. The letter will be placed with the case and on the day of the original court date the judge will consider the request. 

It is not guaranteed that the case will be continued or that the judge will not initiate a court action for your failure to appear. You should contact this office at (757) 385-4707 on the afternoon of your original court date to determine the judge's decision.

• If you are requesting a record check on a person, please contact the Virginia Beach Police Department at (757) 385-4331.
• If you wish to obtain a certified copy of a final disposition, please send $2 per charge. If, in addition to a certified copy of the final disposition, you request copies of additional documents from the case file, there is an additional fee of fifty cents per page.
• If you request a copy of the case paper before the court date or final disposition, the fee is $1 a page for the first two pages and fifty cents for each page thereafter.

Please send your request to:

Virginia Beach General District Court
Criminal Division
2425 Nimmo Parkway
Virginia Beach, Virginia 23456-9057

Checks and money orders drawn on a Virginia Bank are accepted. You also need to include a stamped addressed envelope with your request. Please include the following information:

• Defendant's name or any known aliases.
• Date of birth.
• Social security number.
• Sex.
• Race.
• Specific charge you are requesting.
• Court date.

Please allow about two weeks for the research and mailing of the requested documents.

To determine if you qualify for public defender services, you should appear in the Criminal Court Clerk's Office when open no later than 10 days before your court date. If the public defender has already been appointed and you need to contact their office, please call (757) 427-6050.

In order to appeal a case, the defendant or their attorney must appear in the Criminal Clerk's Office in person within 10 calendar days of the date of conviction. The defendant may be required to sign and post a bond. After 10 calendar days, the defendant has lost the right to appeal the case.