At the 2020 Special Assembly the Good Time Bill was passed, which excluded all those with felony robbery convictions from being eligible to benefit. This was both devastating to those serving time in Virginia as well as their friends and families waiting for them at home. When Robbery was excluded, it was mainly due to an inability on the behalf of legislators to see past the robbery felony charges which encompassed murder or serious bodily harm. At that time felony robbery convictions, regardless of severity, were all classed together. What most people do not know is that on January 21, 2021 Robbery as classified under code section 18.2-58 (*Code Section excluded from Good Time Bill) was broken down into four individual class felonies ranging from a class 2 felony, being the most severe, to a class 6.

We are advocating for a Delegate to sponsor a Bill amending amending Code of Virginia § 18.2-58; robbery to assign individual section codes to the newly defined Classes of felony robbery being 3, 5, and 6; those convictions not resulting in serious bodily injury or unlawful bodily injury. With the intent and purpose to be implemented retroactively, through petition to the court. If passed into law, men and women previously found guilty of robbery due to their reclassification under the new codes, would consequentially become eligible for earned sentence credits as their convicted offence, now with a new and unique code number, would no longer be included on the original list of exclusions. To reiterate this is not an amendment to the Goodtime Bill, and does not act contrary to the concerns and decisions of legislators who worked tirelessly together to bring that piece of legislation into effect, rather it only assigns new and individual section codes to the newly formed sections of robbery that were passed into law on January 21, 2021. For further details please visit https://advocateva.wixsite.com/advocateva or email advocateva@outlook.com.