In a criminal prosecution, other than for perjury, or in an action on a penal statute, evidence shall not be given against the accused of any statement made by him as a witness upon a legal examination, in a criminal or civil action, unless such statement was made when examined as a witness in his own behalf.
Va. Code Ann. § 19.2-270
When statement by accused as witness not received as evidence
Applied in 4 court decisions — leading case Wolfe v. Clarke (2013)
Most recently applied in Commonwealth v. Fields (April 2014)
Code 1950, § 19.1-267; 1960, c. 366; 1975, c. 495; 1988, c. 366.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: Virginia Law Portal (LIS). Reproduced from public-domain Virginia statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.