Nottoway General District Court is at 328 West Courthouse Road.

• Mailing address: P.O. Box 25, Nottoway, VA 23955
• Clerk’s Office: (434) 645-9312
• Fax: (434) 645-8584
• Clerk’s office hours: Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.

The address has a quirk that catches people. The courthouse mailing address is Nottoway, VA 23955, but the physical address used for shipping and GPS is 328 West Courthouse Road, Crewe, VA 23930. The courthouse has not moved. If your navigation cannot find “Nottoway, VA 23955,” use the Crewe address.

Nottoway’s General District and Juvenile and Domestic Relations courts are combined and share a clerk’s office. The Circuit Court, which handles felony trials, jury trials, and appeals from General District Court, is at the same courthouse with its own clerk at (434) 645-9043, open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The date and time printed on your summons is what controls. Confirm with the clerk if anything is unclear.

Nottoway County is rural and its docket is driven by two U.S. highways that run through it:

• U.S. Route 460, the main east-west corridor, running from Petersburg through Blackstone, Crewe, and Burkeville toward Farmville and Lynchburg
• U.S. Route 360, crossing the county and meeting Route 460 at Burkeville
• Route 40 and Route 49, the secondary routes through Blackstone and Crewe

Where the charges come from. These are open highways that pass directly through small towns. The posted limit drops as you enter Blackstone, Crewe, or Burkeville, and the reckless driving threshold drops with it. At a posted 35, the criminal line is 55. A driver holding highway speed into town is not slightly over. They are across a criminal line, often without noticing the limit changed.

Any speed in excess of 85 mph is reckless driving in Virginia regardless of the posted limit, under Va. Code § 46.2-862. Over 100 mph you are well past that line, and the exposure changes in a way most drivers do not expect.

The charge: Class 1 misdemeanor, up to 12 months in jail, a fine up to $2,500, 6 DMV demerit points, a lasting criminal record, and a license suspension of 60 days to six months at the court’s discretion under Va. Code § 46.2-393. It cannot be prepaid.

The part that is specific to 100 mph, and it is new. As of July 1, 2026, Va. Code § 46.2-393 requires that on a reckless driving conviction for speeds over 100 mph, the court must order enrollment in Virginia’s Intelligent Speed Assistance Program unless it suspends your license instead. Below 100 mph the Program is discretionary. Above it, the court must do one or the other.

The Program means a speed-limiting device installed on any vehicle you own or operate, at your expense, for 60 days to six months. Tampering with it is a separate Class 1 misdemeanor.

Two different record clocks. The demerit points stay active for 2 years from the date of the offense. The conviction itself stays on your Virginia driving record for 11 years.

What a court may consider: a completed Virginia DMV-approved driver improvement course, voluntary community service, your driving record, and a speedometer calibration where accuracy is genuinely at issue. None of that obligates a court to do anything, and at extreme speeds the exposure is real. What the case turns on is the evidence: how the speed was measured, whether the device was calibrated and the officer trained on it, and whether the right vehicle was captured.

Results depend on the specific facts of each case. Prior outcomes do not guarantee or predict a similar result in any other matter.

It depends on the charge.

For prepayable traffic infractions such as most speeding tickets, you may enter a written appearance and waive the court hearing under Va. Code § 19.2-254.1, and an attorney can handle the matter without you present.

Reckless driving is different. It cannot be prepaid and it requires a court appearance. Some Virginia courts will grant a waiver of appearance for out-of-state defendants, but that is at the judge’s discretion and cannot be promised in advance.

DUI and other criminal misdemeanors generally require you to appear in person.

If you were passing through on Route 460 and cannot easily return to Virginia, raise it early. That is the fact that supports asking for a waiver, and it needs raising well before your court date.

Improper driving is a traffic infraction carrying a fine up to $500 and 3 DMV demerit points, with no jail time and no criminal record.

Under Va. Code § 46.2-869, a court may reduce a reckless driving charge to improper driving where the defendant’s culpability is slight based on the facts of the case. It can also arrive by agreement with the Commonwealth.

A police officer cannot write a ticket for improper driving. It exists only as a reduction. Not all cases qualify, and higher speeds, an accident, or prior convictions make it less likely.

Under Va. Code § 18.2-270, the mandatory minimum depends on how close the two offenses are:

• Within less than 5 years of the first: jail of not less than one month, with 20 days as a mandatory minimum the court cannot suspend
• Within 5 to 10 years of the first: jail of not less than one month, with 10 days as a mandatory minimum

Both carry:

• A mandatory minimum $500 fine
• Three-year license revocation
• Ignition interlock required for any restricted license
• Mandatory ASAP

Elevated BAC adds more mandatory time on a second offense within 10 years: 10 additional days if BAC is 0.15 to 0.20, or 20 additional days if BAC is above 0.20.

No diversion. Virginia has no first-offender program for DUI. ASAP is not an alternative to a conviction. It is a requirement that follows one.

Eluding under Va. Code § 46.2-817 is driving in willful and wanton disregard of a law enforcement officer’s signal to stop, or attempting to escape or elude the officer.

• Misdemeanor eluding (§ 46.2-817(A)): Class 2 misdemeanor, up to 6 months jail and a $1,000 fine
• Felony eluding (§ 46.2-817(B)): Class 6 felony where the driving interferes with or endangers the operation of the law enforcement vehicle, or endangers a person. One to five years, though the court or jury may impose up to 12 months in jail and a fine instead.
• If a pursuing officer is killed as a direct and proximate result of felony eluding: Class 4 felony

High speed alone does not make eluding a felony. The trigger is interference or endangerment, not speed. That distinction is the line between a misdemeanor and a felony conviction, and it is often where the real fight in these cases is.

There is a statutory affirmative defense. Under § 46.2-817, it is a defense if you reasonably believed you were being pursued by someone other than a law enforcement officer. This comes up more than people expect on rural roads at night and with unmarked vehicles.

A conviction also carries a mandatory license suspension.

Driving on a suspended or revoked license under Va. Code § 46.2-301 is a Class 1 misdemeanor carrying up to 12 months jail, a fine up to $2,500, and 6 demerit points. On conviction the court will generally add a suspension matching the length of the original one. If the original had no fixed end date, the court may add up to 90 days.

A third or subsequent offense within 10 years carries a mandatory minimum 10 days in jail that cannot be suspended.

Why licenses get suspended: too many DMV demerit points, a DUI conviction, unpaid fines, failure to maintain insurance, or refusing a breath test.

Worth knowing: under Va. Code § 46.2-301(G), if you have no prior violations of that section in the past 10 years, the court has discretion to dismiss the charge if you show proof of compliance on or before your court date. Getting reinstated before court can matter.

• Petty larceny: theft under $1,000. Class 1 misdemeanor, up to 12 months jail, a fine up to $2,500, restitution to the victim.
• Grand larceny: theft of $1,000 or more. A felony carrying 1 to 20 years, though the court or jury may instead impose up to 12 months in jail and a fine. Theft of a firearm is grand larceny regardless of value.

The $1,000 threshold determines whether shoplifting or theft is a misdemeanor or a felony. Stealing a $999 item is tried in Nottoway General District Court. Stealing a $1,000 item starts with a preliminary hearing there and, if certified, proceeds to Circuit Court.

One thing people do not expect. Under Va. Code § 8.01-44.4, a retailer can pursue you civilly regardless of what happens in criminal court. The demand can be twice the unpaid retail value with a $50 minimum, or $350 in liquidated damages if the merchandise was recovered in sellable condition, plus up to $150 in fees. Paying that letter does not resolve your criminal charge. The two proceed separately.

Possession of controlled substances including cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, fentanyl, and prescription drugs without a valid prescription is a felony in Virginia. Cases begin with a preliminary hearing in Nottoway General District Court and, if certified, proceed to Nottoway Circuit Court.

On the first offender program. Va. Code § 18.2-251 allows a court to defer proceedings on a first drug possession charge and dismiss it on completion of probation, treatment, and community service. It is worth understanding what it does and does not do.

A dismissal under § 18.2-251 is not eligible for expungement. The charge is dismissed, but the arrest and the deferral remain on your record. It is sealable under Virginia’s separate record sealing process rather than erased, and it counts as a prior for purposes of the statute if you are charged again. Anyone telling you the program leaves a clean record is describing something the statute does not provide.

Leaving the scene of an accident is governed by Va. Code § 46.2-894 when the vehicle or property struck is attended. The dividing line is $1,000 in property damage, and it separates a misdemeanor from a felony.

• Damage of $1,000 or less, no injury: Class 1 misdemeanor. Up to 12 months jail, a fine up to $2,500, license suspension possible.
• Damage of more than $1,000, or any injury or death: Class 5 felony. Up to 10 years in prison, though the court or jury may instead impose up to 12 months in jail and a fine.

That threshold surprises people. A collision that looks minor can pass $1,000 in damage easily, and at that point the charge is a felony rather than a traffic matter.

Unattended property is handled under Va. Code § 46.2-896 and treated less severely, but the duty still applies. Make a reasonable effort to find the owner, and if you cannot, leave your information and report the accident.

What Virginia requires after an accident: stop immediately as close to the scene as possible without obstructing traffic, provide your name, address, driver’s license number, and vehicle registration to the other driver and to law enforcement, render reasonable assistance to anyone injured, and report to police.

Passengers have their own duty. Under Va. Code § 46.2-895, anyone 16 or older in the vehicle who knows the driver failed to report must report the accident within 24 hours, or face charges themselves.

Schedule a free consultation with Weiland Button to get the facts about your Nottoway County traffic or criminal case.