Virginia Disorderly Conduct Lawyers

Virginia Disorderly Conduct Lawyers

When you are caught up in a bad situation, usually you can find your way out of it with no harm done. However, if you are here reading this page today, it is likely because you have found yourself with a criminal charge of disorderly conduct.

After being arrested, this can become a very scary experience for you.

Facing criminal charges for something like disorderly conduct is not something to take lightly. You could be up against jail time and heavy fines.

Our Virginia disorderly conduct lawyers want you to know that we have successfully handled many cases like yours in the past. We would like to offer you the same level of support and guidance that we have given to others in our community.

Read until the end to learn about a former client of ours as well as some mistakes you will want to be sure to avoid making.

NovaLegalGroup, P.C. also helps residents of Virginia with Legal Matters in: Alexandria, Annandale, Arlington, Burke, Centreville, Fairfax, Mclean, Oakton, Reston and Springfield.

Virginia Disorderly Conduct Client Story

Disclaimer: We have changed the names and details of this story to protect the identity of our client. Less than a week before the arrest, Anthony’s mother passed away suddenly from an unexpected heart issue.

Anthony and his mother Marie were extremely close. He was over at her house with his wife and daughter every Sunday for dinner. When she died, he was left with a huge hole in his life.

Marie was a saint in Anthony’s eyes. Her only flaw was that she was too forgiving. That was his one and only complaint.

Anthony was 44 when he lost his mother. His brother, Angelo was 47.

Angelo rarely came around even though he only lived an hour away.

When Marie would call, Angelo made his conversations brief. He never called first.

This caused a major rift between Anthony and Angelo.

He figured he was going to be seeing Angelo at the memorial service on Sunday. He wished more than anything that this Sunday would have been like any other. He wished that instead of clearing out his mother’s kitchen, that it was full of the fragrance of her cooking. He wished that instead of the silence that was painful to be in, there were her laughs.

Making it through the service seemed impossible to bear.

As he picked out his suit for the service on Saturday night, Anthony was lamenting to his wife Judy.

“I don’t even know why he would show up. He never cared about her when she was alive,” he said.

“It is his mother. I’m sure he cares somewhere in that cold heart of his,” Judy did not think very highly of Angelo.

“Mom, is this okay to wear?” Colette asked from the hallway holding an outfit up to show.

She poked her head in and Anthony turned his face to hide his glassy eyes from crying a few minutes ago.

“Yes, that’s good. See if you can find those shoes you wore to your graduation,” Judy said to her daughter.

Anthony looked over at his girl. She was now living on her own. She was stronger than he was. Colette was a rock for him and he knew it wasn’t fair to her.

She smiled sadly at her dad and walked from the room.

As he laid down for bed, he prayed for a dreamless sleep.

In the morning at the service, Anthony braced himself for when his brother would arrive.

Sure enough, Angelo was late. That upset Anthony more than he would be able to let on.

“Dad,” Colette appeared from beside him, “something to calm the nerves?”

She slipped him a small silver flask that he recognized to be his dad’s.

Anthony chuckled and turned his back to the group.

They shared the flask together sharing observations that Marie would have been making about the beautiful sunny day. His mother loved the heat. It reminded her of Italy and all of her voyages over there.

He realized he had not eaten since, well, he couldn’t remember when.

“I think they’re almost ready for us,” Judy motioned for Anthony and Colette to head to the gravesite where the priest was chatting somberly with a guest.

Suddenly there was a hand on his shoulder. He turned and saw Angelo’s face smiling at him as if they had run into each other on a golf outing.

“Hey, brother. How are you holding up?” he asked.

“I’m just fine,” Anthony retorted. He shrugged his hand off.

“Before they start, I wanted to ask about the estate,” Angelo said.

Anthony felt his face flush, “What about it?”

“Well, I know she left you as the executor. I wanted to sit down and go over how much some of those antiques were worth. I’ve got a guy who can appraise–”

“I-I’m sorry, what?” Anthony felt the words slurring together in his mouth. “You came here to tell me that you want money? That’s it? You don’t care about the fact that mom is dead. You just want the few things that she left behind turned into cash to go into your bank?”

Angelo flushed red in the face.

What ensued was a slew of everything that Anthony had been bottling up about his brother for years. The empty stomach, the half a flask of whiskey, and the stress of the week exploded into a stream of profanities. Before he knew it, he was screaming at Angelo. He didn’t know how to stop himself. The things that came out of his mouth made Colette’s jaw drop. No one stopped him.

Unfortunately, however much Angelo may have deserved what Anthony said in the moment, there was a family a few plots down who decided to call the police to report the incident.

Anthony was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct for disturbing a funeral service.

After he sobered up and sat down with Judy and Colette, he knew he was in trouble. He was going to need to find a lawyer. He did not want to end up having to pay a huge fine or go to jail.

Colette pulled up an internet search and found our website.

After a quick phone call, we got him set up with a consultation.

During this first meeting, Anthony had three main questions.

1. What does it mean to be charged with disorderly conduct?
2. What will happen to me if I am convicted?
3. How can we defend this case?

If your questions are similar to Anthony’s, keep reading until the end to learn more.

What does it mean to be charged with disorderly conduct?

Anthony was terribly worried about what a conviction would mean for his future. He was a fairly successful CPA with a reputation to protect. His job was partially to help people avoid jail for tax evasion. It would be a terrible look to end up going to jail because of a familial argument.

We explained to him that a charge for disorderly conduct in Virginia was a misdemeanor. We also promised to fight tirelessly to keep him from the severe consequences of the charge. 

What will happen to me if I am convicted?

“I can’t go to jail,” Anthony said with his head hung, “Is that what I’m up against?”

“Technically speaking, yes,” we explained.

The penalties for a disorderly conduct conviction in Virginia were up to a year in jail with $2,500 fines.

We assured him that regardless of how scary this may sound right now, we would protect his rights.

We did not want to see him in jail either. We didn’t want him to have to pay those fines. We would fight tirelessly to ensure we got the charges against him dropped.

How can we defend this case?

“This is probably the dumbest thing I’ve done in my adult life. I do not want this conviction,” he said to us, “How can we defend this case?”

We assured Anthony that he was not the only person to cause a scene like this. It was actually not even the first memorial service we’ve seen an arrest happen at.

According to the law in Virginia, the prosecution needs to prove that you intended to cause a scene. In order for the conviction to happen, there needed to be reason to believe that Anthony was intentionally being a nuisance to the public.

Because he was technically drunk at the time of the argument, he would be able to say that this was not intentional. This was years of being fed up with someone for good reason. Anthony would have never acted in a way to cause such a scene on a normal day.

Disorderly Conduct Mistakes to Avoid Making

If you have been charged with disorderly conduct, you should be aware of some of the worst mistakes you could make. By avoiding these mistakes, you will better ensure the success of your case.

Read until the end to learn more.

Do Not Struggle with the Police Officer

We understand that getting put into handcuffs is an alarming experience to say the least. This is especially scary for those who feel that they are innocent. It is natural to want to get someone who is trying to restrain you away from you.

We strongly urge you not to argue with or fight with the police officer who is performing the arrest. You don’t want to resist arrest after being charged with disorderly conduct.

If they feel that you are a threat to them, they can use force. That is something you should be looking to avoid entirely.

When you are faced with being arrested, be as cooperative as you possibly can be. Everything that you say can be held against you in a court of law, as your Miranda rights will say. The less you say the better.

The more cooperative you are, the more credible you will appear later on.

It will only benefit you to be cooperative with your arresting officer. The very last thing you want to have happen is, while being arrested for disorderly conduct, you put up enough of a fight to get charged with resisting arrest which carries its own penalties and consequences.

Talking to the Other Person Involved

You can just about guarantee that talking to whoever else was involved in the situation of your arrest will not lead to good things.

Let’s say Anthony approached Angelo after the arrest and they got into the argument again. With emotions so high, it could easily escalate into something more.

If something were to happen between the two of you, and it turned into something physical, you could be looking at charges against you for assault or battery.

We truly understand that you may be trying to communicate your truth to whoever else was involved. If, for example, you were arrested because you were accused of something that did not happen, you might want to prove it to the other person that it was a misinterpretation.

This is not going to necessarily be helpful for you.

You can consider that other person as a witness for the prosecution. Anything you two discuss could end up being used against you in court.

Instead, you should rely on your lawyer to be a vessel for your truth. Allow them to give you a voice where it matters. They can help you out of this mess.

Using Social Media to Discuss the Incident

You need to be very cautious about what you say to people in general. You need to be even more concerned about what you say on the internet where everything is permanent.

You may think you can delete a post without facing repercussions of whatever was said, but on the internet, you have to assume that it never goes away.

People can screenshot anything an instant after you post it.

Do not put anything up online about your arrest. Not only will this protect your privacy, but it can help us later on with your case.

You can expect that the prosecution will put together a case against you that will not be what you would like to hear about yourself.

If they have fuel to use against you, they will.

If you posted a rant about your arrest and how mad you are about it, they can use those words against you.

Do not put anything on the internet that you would not want on a projector in a courtroom.

Delaying Reaching Out to a Lawyer

You need to take this charge seriously.

You should not fall victim to the thinking that, because this is not as serious a charge as something like DUI or domestic violence, that you can be flippant about the charge.

The penalties are serious. You could end up in jail for a year with a $2,500 charge.

Unless you think you would be fine with a year of jail and $2,500 is just a drop in the bucket, you need to think about how to equip yourself with the best possible defense.

Getting to a lawyer right away is going to ensure that you do not make case-ruining mistakes along the way.

You are just one phone call away from getting on the right path. Our Virginia disorderly conduct lawyers would be more than happy to set up a consultation with you right away. You just have to make that first call.

Hiring the Wrong Disorderly Conduct Lawyer

Perhaps the biggest mistake you could make is having the wrong person represent you.

You need to expect that whoever you hire to represent your case is going to be hugely responsible for how it all ends.

Not every lawyer is equipped to handle criminal law.

You might think that you could call up a lawyer who you know through a friend who did their divorce. Even if they sometimes take on cases for criminal law that does not mean that they would be best suited to handle your disorderly conduct charge.

You want to make sure that you are hiring someone who handles these types of cases on a regular basis. They should be able to go through a long list of cases like yours that they have successfully handled in the past.

Choose wisely as this person will be your confidant and your lifeline. They will be the ones who determine if you end up with charges against you dropped or a failed attempted to avoid conviction.

You do not want to be sent to jail wishing you had picked someone better fit for your case.

Call Our Virginia Disorderly Conduct Lawyers Today

When you are faced with a charge for disorderly conduct, you may be worried about your future. We understand what you are going through. We have helped many others in your same shoes out of this legal mess. Please do not hesitate to call to set up a consultation with us today. You deserve to have your future protected.