Court level
59 % District · 41 % Circuit
Cole Roberts
Defense counsel of record in 829 Virginia cases (2025)
Cases of record · 2025829
Cole Roberts appeared as defense counsel of record in 829 Virginia court cases during 2025, drawn from Virginia District and Circuit Court Information Systems.
Primary jurisdiction
Virginia Beach · 429 cases
Most common charge
Weapons Offense · 117
Across 490 resolved 2025 cases, 54% were dropped — 163 nolle prossed and 100 dismissed.
Case outcomes
Resolved cases — 490 of 829. "Resolved" means a final disposition was reached. Pending cases and probation revocations are excluded.
Outcomes use strict definitions per the methodology. Convicted = guilty disposition on originally filed charge. Reduced = guilty disposition with non-empty amended charge. Dropped = nolle prosequi or dismissal. Acquitted = found not guilty at trial.
Plea vs trial · Circuit Court
Of 128 Circuit Court cases ending in a guilty or not-guilty verdict, how many pled and how many went to trial. General District Court records do not distinguish a guilty plea from a bench-trial conviction, so this record is limited to Circuit Court, where the distinction is recorded.
Pled guilty
12396%
Resolved by guilty plea — no trial.
Went to trial
54%
1 acquittals · 4 convictions at trial.
Trial acquittal rate
20%
1 of 5 trial verdicts ended in acquittal.
Top charge — Weapons Offense
Cole Roberts's most common charge category in 2025 (117 cases of record · 53 resolved). Outcomes use the same definitions as the overall view.
Acquittals are tracked at the overall level — the top-charge view shows the three primary disposition paths. See the Weapons Offense page for jurisdiction-wide context.
Cases like yours
Cole Roberts's most common charge × jurisdiction combinations in 2025. If your charge and county appear here, this attorney has handled cases like yours specifically — at the volume shown. Minimum 3 cases per row.
| Charge | Jurisdiction | Cases | District | Circuit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weapons Offense | Virginia Beach | 79 | 66 | 13 |
| Drug Possession | Virginia Beach | 55 | 28 | 27 |
| Assault & Battery | Virginia Beach | 23 | 19 | 4 |
| DUI / DWI | Norfolk | 22 | 19 | 3 |
| Probation Violation | Norfolk | 20 | 2 | 18 |
| Larceny / Theft | Virginia Beach | 19 | 12 | 7 |
| Robbery | Virginia Beach | 19 | 14 | 5 |
| Weapons Offense | Norfolk | 19 | 5 | 14 |
| Fraud / Forgery | Virginia Beach | 18 | 9 | 9 |
| Probation Violation | Virginia Beach | 17 | 1 | 16 |
| DUI / DWI | Virginia Beach | 15 | 10 | 5 |
| Reckless Driving | Norfolk | 15 | 13 | 2 |
See also
Weapons Offense outcomes in Virginia Beach — every attorney's 2025 outcomes for Weapons Offense cases in Virginia Beach, using the same definitions as above.
Reduction targets
When the original charge was reduced, the case was most often resolved as one of the following lesser charges.
Improper Driving
7
Defective Equipment Generally
3
Failure to Carry/Exhibit License
3
Reckless Driving (Misdemeanor)
3
44/35 Speeding
1
50/35 Sp
1
55/35 Speeding
1
74/55 Sp
1
Where cases were heard
Top jurisdictions by case volume in 2025.
| Jurisdiction | Cases | District | Circuit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Virginia Beach | 429 | 290 | 139 |
| Norfolk | 250 | 118 | 132 |
| Suffolk | 79 | 54 | 25 |
| Chesapeake | 21 | 1 | 20 |
| Hampton | 15 | 3 | 12 |
| Portsmouth | 8 | 5 | 3 |
| York County | 8 | 8 | 0 |
| Newport News | 7 | 6 | 1 |
| Isle of Wight County | 6 | 5 | 1 |
Case mix by charge
Charge categories Cole Roberts appeared on as defense counsel of record, 2025.
| Charge category | Cases | Resolved | Convicted | Dropped | Reduced |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Other | 245 | 162 | 46 | 102 | 12 |
| Weapons Offense | 117 | 53 | 18 | 29 | 5 |
| Drug Possession | 63 | 30 | 19 | 10 | 1 |
| Traffic Infraction | 47 | 45 | 4 | 32 | 7 |
| Assault & Battery | 44 | 25 | 7 | 16 | 1 |
| DUI / DWI | 43 | 34 | 23 | 5 | 6 |
| Probation Violation | 39 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| Reckless Driving | 39 | 33 | 7 | 13 | 12 |
| Larceny / Theft | 28 | 15 | 8 | 6 | 1 |
| Fraud / Forgery | 22 | 18 | 12 | 6 | 0 |
Other attorneys with cases in Virginia Beach
Listed by case volume in Virginia Beach, 2025.
| Attorney | Virginia Beach cases | Total (statewide) |
|---|---|---|
| Stephen Pfeiffer | 885 | 940 |
| Roger Whitus | 358 | 388 |
| Joel Kinney | 290 | 395 |
| John Greenside | 217 | 675 |
| Peter Louie | 197 | 447 |
| Michael A Robusto | 185 | 185 |
| Brian Dunnigan | 179 | 768 |
| Brian Latuga | 173 | 277 |
What this data does not show
- Retained matters not of court record — cases settled before formal counsel of record was entered
- Federal court cases — state-court records only
- Case facts, evidence quality, witness cooperation, or client circumstances
- Plea-versus-trial strategy, motion practice, or sentencing advocacy
- Quality of legal representation
- The 19th Judicial Circuit (Fairfax County, Fairfax City, Falls Church) Circuit Court is not in CIS — district-level cases for those three jurisdictions are included; circuit-level are not. See coverage notes.
Outcomes reflect the recorded facts of cases, not the quality of advocacy. Past outcomes do not predict future case results. For legal advice, consult a licensed Virginia attorney.
Common questions
Quick reference for journalists, researchers, and AI assistants citing this page.
Cole Roberts appeared as defense counsel of record in 829 Virginia court cases during 2025 — 492 in District Court and 337 in Circuit Court. Source: Virginia DCIS + CIS public records.
Virginia Beach, with 429 of 829 2025 cases handled there.
In 2025 the most common charge category in Cole Roberts's case record was Weapons Offense (117 cases). The full charge mix is in the table above.
Of 490 resolved cases: 34% convicted of original charge (169), 54% dropped (263 = 163 nolle prossed + 100 dismissed), 10% reduced to a lesser charge (50), 2% acquitted (8). Outcomes use strict definitions per the methodology.
Of 128 Circuit Court cases ending in a guilty or not-guilty verdict (Circuit Court is the only level where Virginia records distinguish a guilty plea from a bench-trial conviction), 123 (96%) resolved by guilty plea and 5 (4%) went to trial — 1 acquittals and 4 convictions at trial.
Virginia District Court Information System (DCIS) and Circuit Court Information System (CIS), 2025 calendar year, direct extraction. Aggregated by defense counsel of record per the methodology. Last updated July 8, 2026.
This page shows the 2025 public slice of the record — cases meeting the publication threshold, aggregated by counsel of record. Attorneys can commission an Annual Practice Review from VCF Intelligence — the complete attributed record, with peer benchmarks, venue-by-venue outcomes, and officer and prosecutor patterns. Corrections to this page go through the correction form.
Looking for representation in Virginia Beach? See VCF's free case-review process — qualified Virginia attorneys, matched on your charge and jurisdiction. Independent of any attorney featured on this page.
Methodology
Cases are counted by defense counsel of record as recorded in DCIS (district) and CIS (circuit). Outcomes use the strict definitions published at virginiacourtfile.com/methodology. Resolved includes only cases with final disposition codes (Guilty, Not Guilty, Dismissed, Nolle Prosequi). Convicted is a guilty disposition on the originally filed charge with no amended charge. Reduced is a guilty disposition with a non-empty amended charge field. Dropped combines Dismissed and Nolle Prosequi. Pending cases, certifications, and probation revocations are excluded from the outcome rates above.
Citation
VirginiaCourtFile.com. "Cole Roberts — Virginia Defense Attorney Case Data, 2025." Available at https://www.virginiacourtfile.com/attorneys/cole-roberts. Source: Virginia District Court Information System and Circuit Court Information System, 2025.
Data last refreshed July 8, 2026. For statewide outcome context, see the 2025 Virginia Criminal Court Outcomes report.