On any indictment for maliciously shooting, stabbing, cutting or wounding a person or by any means causing him bodily injury, with intent to maim, disfigure, disable or kill him, or of causing bodily injury by means of any acid, lye or other caustic substance or agent, the jury or the court trying the case without a jury may find the accused not guilty of the offense charged but guilty of unlawfully doing such act with the intent aforesaid, or of assault and battery if the evidence warrants.
Va. Code Ann. § 18.2-54
Conviction of lesser offenses under certain indictments
Applied in 2 court decisions — leading case 14 Va. App. 130 - Boone v. Commonwealth (1992)
Most recently applied in Singh v. Holder (May 2009)
Code 1950, § 19.1-251; 1960, c. 366; 1975, cc. 14, 15.
Official source: Virginia Law Portal (LIS). Reproduced from public-domain Virginia statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.