Failure to Appear in New Kent County

Failure to Appear charges in New Kent County result in conviction significantly more often than the statewide pattern suggests. While Virginia overall dismisses 56 percent of these cases, New Kent County dismisses only 28.1 percent, a gap of nearly 28 percentage points. The 64.8 percent conviction rate in the county is substantially higher than the statewide average, indicating that this jurisdiction pursues these charges aggressively and successfully. The 7.1 percent acquittal rate shows that few cases reach trial and result in not guilty verdicts, suggesting most defendants either plead guilty or have charges dismissed early in the process.

The typical Failure to Appear case in New Kent County takes approximately five and a half months from filing to resolution. However, case duration varies considerably: a quarter of cases resolve within 67 days, while another quarter stretch beyond 373 days. Charge reductions occur in only 1.5 percent of cases, and when they do happen, they usually result in another Failure to Appear charge at a lower level rather than dismissal to an unrelated offense. Defendants who are convicted face a median sentence of 10 days but an average of 104 days, reflecting a small number of cases with substantially longer penalties. Fines average around $139.