No regular minister, priest, rabbi or accredited practitioner over the age of eighteen years, of any religious organization or denomination usually referred to as a church, shall be required in giving testimony as a witness in any criminal action to disclose any information communicated to him by the accused in a confidential manner, properly entrusted to him in his professional capacity and necessary to enable him to discharge the functions of his office according to the usual course of his practice or discipline, where such person so communicating such information about himself or another is seeking spiritual counsel and advice relative to and growing out of the information so imparted.
Va. Code Ann. § 19.2-271.3
Communications between ministers of religion and persons they counsel or advise (Supreme Court Rule 2:503 derived in part from this section)
Applied in 2 court decisions — leading case 263 N.J. Super. 98 - State v. Szemple (1993)
Most recently applied in 22 Va. App. 336 - Nestle v. Commonwealth (April 1996)
1985, c. 570.
Official source: Virginia Law Portal (LIS). Reproduced from public-domain Virginia statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.