Court level
50 % District · 50 % Circuit
Preston Williams
Defense counsel of record in 756 Virginia cases (2025)
Cases of record · 2025756
Preston Williams appeared as defense counsel of record in 756 Virginia court cases during 2025, drawn from Virginia District and Circuit Court Information Systems.
Primary jurisdiction
Nottoway County · 317 cases
Most common charge
Failure to Appear · 54
Case outcomes
Resolved cases — 537 of 756. "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 194 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
7941%
Resolved by guilty plea — no trial.
Went to trial
11559%
10 acquittals · 105 convictions at trial.
Trial acquittal rate
9%
10 of 115 trial verdicts ended in acquittal.
Top charge — Failure to Appear
Preston Williams's most common charge category in 2025 (54 cases of record · 39 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 Failure to Appear page for jurisdiction-wide context.
Cases like yours
Preston Williams'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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drug Possession | Nottoway County | 27 | 16 | 11 |
| Failure to Appear | Nottoway County | 26 | 24 | 2 |
| Larceny / Theft | Nottoway County | 22 | 19 | 3 |
| Obstruction | Nottoway County | 19 | 13 | 6 |
| Assault & Battery | Nottoway County | 18 | 16 | 2 |
| Failure to Appear | Amelia County | 18 | 15 | 3 |
| DUI / DWI | Nottoway County | 17 | 15 | 2 |
| Fraud / Forgery | Amelia County | 16 | 9 | 7 |
| Weapons Offense | Nottoway County | 16 | 9 | 7 |
| Assault & Battery | Amelia County | 12 | 5 | 7 |
| Sex Offense | Nottoway County | 11 | 3 | 8 |
| Failure to Appear | Prince Edward County | 10 | 7 | 3 |
See also
Drug Possession outcomes in Nottoway County — every attorney's 2025 outcomes for Drug Possession cases in Nottoway County, 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.
Assault & Battery
3
DWI, First Offense
3
Nonviol Felon Poss Gun W/I 10Y
2
Petit Larceny
2
79/60 Sp
1
Defective Speedometer
1
Deprive Animal Of Food, etc.
1
Disorderly Conduct
1
Where cases were heard
Top jurisdictions by case volume in 2025.
| Jurisdiction | Cases | District | Circuit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nottoway County | 317 | 202 | 115 |
| Amelia County | 291 | 92 | 199 |
| Prince Edward County | 142 | 85 | 57 |
| Lunenburg County | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Buckingham County | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Dinwiddie County | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Case mix by charge
Charge categories Preston Williams appeared on as defense counsel of record, 2025.
| Charge category | Cases | Resolved | Convicted | Dropped | Reduced |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Other | 402 | 294 | 150 | 116 | 16 |
| Failure to Appear | 54 | 39 | 23 | 11 | 0 |
| Larceny / Theft | 39 | 29 | 12 | 15 | 1 |
| Drug Possession | 37 | 13 | 11 | 2 | 0 |
| Weapons Offense | 35 | 19 | 10 | 5 | 3 |
| Assault & Battery | 32 | 29 | 12 | 12 | 0 |
| DUI / DWI | 30 | 25 | 16 | 4 | 5 |
| Obstruction | 27 | 17 | 7 | 8 | 0 |
| Fraud / Forgery | 24 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 0 |
| Property Destruction | 17 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 |
Other attorneys with cases in Nottoway County
Listed by case volume in Nottoway County, 2025.
| Attorney | Nottoway County cases | Total (statewide) |
|---|---|---|
| Benjamin Spence | 314 | 345 |
| E Gordon Peters | 102 | 129 |
| Gordon Peters | 50 | 174 |
| Jordan Dalton | 45 | 77 |
| William N Smith | 33 | 101 |
| William Smith | 27 | 112 |
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.
Preston Williams appeared as defense counsel of record in 756 Virginia court cases during 2025 — 380 in District Court and 376 in Circuit Court. Source: Virginia DCIS + CIS public records.
Nottoway County, with 317 of 756 2025 cases handled there.
In 2025 the most common charge category in Preston Williams's case record was Failure to Appear (54 cases). The full charge mix is in the table above.
Of 537 resolved cases: 51% convicted of original charge (273), 38% dropped (202 = 159 nolle prossed + 43 dismissed), 6% reduced to a lesser charge (34), 5% acquitted (28). Outcomes use strict definitions per the methodology.
Of 194 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), 79 (41%) resolved by guilty plea and 115 (59%) went to trial — 10 acquittals and 105 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. Refreshed quarterly. Last updated May 2, 2026.
Looking for representation in Nottoway County? 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. "Preston Williams — Virginia Defense Attorney Case Data, 2025." Available at https://www.virginiacourtfile.com/attorneys/preston-williams. Source: Virginia District Court Information System and Circuit Court Information System, 2025.
Data last refreshed May 2, 2026. Refreshed quarterly. For statewide outcome context, see the 2025 Virginia Criminal Court Outcomes report.