What is an Armed Robbery?

Any robbery in which the robber has any kind of weapon or firearm with him and threatens you with it is called armed robbery. Mostly, robberies in Virginia are armed robberies. Armed robbery is a serious crime in Virginia. Armed robberies can put you in jail for the rest of your life according to the Code of Virginia.

What must a Prosecutor prove?

The prosecutor has to prove if any weapon, armor firearm has been used in the robbery to bring any felony or misdemeanor charges on the accused person. Even if the accused person has used the weapon for threatening the other person while doing a robbery, it will be counted as if he has used or taken help with an armed weapon. Except for robbery charges, another crime “attempt to injure the person” can take place.

Armed Robbery; a Felony or Misdemeanor?

According to the code of Virginia, Armed Robbery is a felony crime. Why? There are different unlawful incidents take place while committing armed robbery. Such as, containing weapon with yourself, inflicting any bodily injury or physical harm, attempt to murder or assault case if you touch the victim. If you are convicted with the Armed Robbery charge, then you will lose your right to vote, to bear arms with you and your right to sit in a jury. Except for all these disadvantages, you will be sentenced to prison for quite a long time, which will affect your rest of the life. Your career can take a serious U-turn if you are given the sentencing in jail; which is never less than five years in an armed robbery case. This will go higher and higher if there are crimes added in the case and you can face the bars for the rest of your life in the jail.

Punishment for Armed Robbery

If you are convicted of the armed robbery crime in Virginia, then you are about to face at least five years in the jail according to the code of Virginia. It can lead to 8 years or more depending on the use of a firearm or any other weapon while committing the robbery crime. There is no way that these sentence charges will drop low; there is the probability of seeing the charges even more harsh and serious, which is at least initial five years in jail or even seven years sometimes. That happens when you have convicted the crime for the second or third time or even more. The penalties depend on your criminal record as well. If it is your first armed robbery and you haven’t been convicted with the armed robbery case before then you might be given leverage from the Court and your penalty might get reduced, but the minimum sentence in jail is three years. So, the case is entirely dependent on the facts and figures. The judge will decide after studying the case, and the facts and then will order the decision whether its initial five years or 7 years or even lifetime.