This guide covers criminal cases from all of Bedford County, Virginia, including the town of Bedford, which was the independent City of Bedford until July 1, 2013. When the city reverted to town status it joined the county for court purposes, and the separate Bedford City listing is now folded into this page. A single cluster of state courts on East Main Street, made up of the Bedford General District Court, the Bedford Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court and the Bedford Circuit Court, hears cases from Forest and Smith Mountain Lake to the Peaks of Otter and downtown Bedford alike. Along with Lynchburg and the counties of Amherst, Campbell and Nelson, they form the 24th Judicial Circuit. Pretrial adults from the whole county are housed at the Bedford Adult Detention Center.

• Bedford Circuit Court and its clerk, 123 East Main Street, Suite 201, Bedford, VA 24523, (540) 586-7632
• Bedford General District Court, criminal and traffic, 123 East Main Street, Suite 202, Bedford, VA 24523, (540) 586-7637
• Bedford Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court, 123 East Main Street, Suite 101, Bedford, VA 24523, (540) 586-7641
• Magistrate, 1000 Broad Street, Bedford, VA 24523, (540) 586-7657
• Commonwealth's Attorney for Bedford County, 123 East Main Street, Suite 302, Bedford, VA 24523, (540) 586-7628
• Bedford Public Defender Office, 202 North Bridge Street, Bedford, VA 24523, (540) 586-7977
• Sheriff's Office, 1345 Falling Creek Road, Bedford, VA 24523, (540) 586-4800
• Bedford Police Department, town of Bedford (the former city), 215 East Main Street, Bedford, VA 24523, (540) 586-7827
• Bedford Adult Detention Center, Blue Ridge Regional Jail Authority, 1000 Broad Street, Bedford, VA 24523; call the Sheriff's Office about custody, (540) 586-4800

Which court hears your case. Where the offense happened inside the county, town limits included, decides nothing about the courthouse: every case lands at 123 East Main Street. Adult misdemeanors and traffic charges get a bench trial in General District Court, and the defendant gets ten days to appeal for a fresh trial, jury available, in Circuit Court. The JDR court takes defendants under 18 plus adults accused of harming a relative or someone in the household. A felony gets its probable cause screening in district court and, after a grand jury indictment, tried in Circuit Court.

Where pretrial inmates are held. Neither the town nor the county keeps its own lockup. The old city jail closed long before reversion, and Bedford now belongs to the Blue Ridge Regional Jail Authority with Amherst, Appomattox, Campbell and Halifax counties and Lynchburg. Someone denied release, or unable to post the bond the magistrate set, is normally kept at the Broad Street building next to the magistrate. The Authority can shift people to its Lynchburg, Amherst, Campbell or Halifax sites, so ask the Sheriff's Office at (540) 586-4800 where a person is today.

Virginia has no town or mayor's courts. When the City of Bedford became a town, its separate city court designations disappeared and its open matters moved onto the county dockets. Older Bedford City case files are kept by the same circuit and district clerks on East Main Street, so a records request for a pre-2013 city case goes to the same counters.

Courts at 123 East Main Street

• Circuit Court, Suite 201, (540) 586-7632: felony indictments and trials, juries, and appeals coming up from both district courts.
• General District Court, Suite 202, (540) 586-7637: traffic cases, adult misdemeanors, bond reviews and felony preliminary hearings.
• JDR Court, Suite 101, (540) 586-7641: juveniles, family-member offenses and protective orders.

Around the clock and on the defense side

• The magistrate at 1000 Broad Street, (540) 586-7657, issues warrants and decides first release at any hour, often over video.
• The Commonwealth's Attorney, (540) 586-7628, prosecutes for the whole county and the town.
• The Bedford Public Defender Office, (540) 586-7977, takes eligible adult and juvenile clients; a private appointed lawyer steps in on conflicts.
• The 24th District Court Service Unit screens juvenile complaints at a Bedford branch; its Lynchburg main office is (434) 455-2660.

Police

• County deputies patrol everywhere outside town limits, since there is no county police force: (540) 586-4800.
• Bedford Police cover the town, the former city: (540) 586-7827.
• State troopers work U.S. 460, U.S. 221 and the Smith Mountain Lake roads.

An officer may write a summons and let the person go, or make an arrest and take the person to the Broad Street magistrate. The magistrate picks recognizance, an unsecured bond that costs money only after a missed date, or a secured bond. Anyone left at the Bedford Adult Detention Center can request a fresh look at those terms from a district judge.

First appearance

Within a court day or so, jailed defendants appear (usually on video) before a district judge, who reviews the charge, rules on appointed counsel and fixes a trial date. People released on a summons simply come back on the date printed on it; the clerk at (540) 586-7637 can confirm it.

Typical Bedford misdemeanors

• Shoplifting under $1,000, trespass and simple assault are Class 1, Virginia's most serious misdemeanor grade, punishable by up to twelve months behind bars plus fines reaching $2,500.
• An assault on a relative or household member is charged in JDR court, where first-time defendants are sometimes allowed to earn a dismissal through a deferral.
• For a first DUI, Bedford judges must impose at least $250, a year without a license and alcohol safety classes; a breath result of 0.15 or more triggers compulsory jail days.
• Below Class 1 sit Class 2 (half a year, $1,000) and the fine-only grades, with Class 3 limited to a $500 fine and Class 4 to $250.

Verdict and appeal

A district judge decides guilt alone. Outcomes range from dismissal through fines and suspended time on probation to actual days at the Broad Street jail. Ten days after the verdict, the chance to appeal for a new Circuit Court trial closes.

A felony suspect from Forest, Moneta or the town is booked at the Bedford Adult Detention Center, where the magistrate decides release or sets a bond. Virginia repealed its charge-based presumptions against bail in 2021, so the magistrate looks at danger and the chance of flight. A defense lawyer can then seek a bond hearing before a district judge.

How a Bedford felony moves

• Preliminary hearing in General District Court, or JDR when a relative is the complainant; a district judge weighs probable cause, unless the prosecution takes the case directly to a grand jury.
• Grand jury review in Circuit Court, followed by arraignment once a true bill comes back.
• Plea agreement, bench trial or a unanimous 12-person jury; since mid-2021 the judge sentences unless the defense asks the jury to, using the voluntary state guidelines.

Ranges for frequent charges

• Grand larceny (theft of $1,000 and up) can bring as much as twenty years in prison, at least one, or a local jail term of a year or less.
• Night entry into a Bedford home to steal or commit a felony can mean five to twenty years (Class 3), or Class 2 with a deadly weapon.
• Holding cocaine, heroin, fentanyl or another top-schedule drug counts as a Class 5 felony that can bring as much as a decade (a jury or judge may give jail time instead), and a first sale conviction can run as high as forty years. Selling marijuana is still prosecuted even though adults of 21 may now keep up to an ounce.
• Malicious wounding is graded Class 3, and unlawful wounding Class 6, which allows up to five years or a jail sentence.

Speedy trial and sentence length

Speedy-trial limits give the Commonwealth about five months to try a jailed Bedford defendant, counted from the probable cause ruling, or nine for someone free on bond, with excused delays added. Parole ended for felonies committed after 1994, though earned credits reduce time served, and terms over a year are usually served in a state prison.

Sheriff's investigators lead most county homicide, sexual assault and robbery cases; Bedford Police detectives handle those inside town limits, with State Police help as needed. Release is usually refused by the magistrate, and the accused stays at Broad Street until defense counsel asks a judge for a bond hearing, where evidence, record, ties to the community and victim safety are weighed.

Penalty ranges

• Aggravated murder, the former capital offense, now means life imprisonment because Virginia abolished executions in 2021.
• First-degree murder ranges from two decades up to life, and second-degree from five up to forty years.
• Rape and robbery each allow five years up to life, and using a gun in either brings an additional charge with required prison time.
• Aggravated malicious wounding carries twenty years at the low end and life at the top.

Pace and counsel

These cases follow the same preliminary hearing, grand jury and trial steps but routinely take a year or two in Bedford because forensic results, medical files, expert reports and mental-health evaluations must be gathered. The public defender at (540) 586-7977 represents many qualifying defendants.

Victims

Victims may get notice of hearings, speak at bond and sentencing, and seek restitution. The Victim/Witness program in the prosecutor's office, (540) 586-7628, explains each step.

Every youth case from the county or the former city goes to the JDR court in Suite 101, (540) 586-7641.

Intake

A 24th District Court Service Unit intake officer screens each complaint. A minor first offense may be diverted, a petition may be filed, or locked detention may be authorized for a serious offense, a danger to the community or a likely runaway. The Lynchburg main office answers at (434) 455-2660.

Detention

For secure detention, Bedford sends children to Lynchburg's regional juvenile center on Florida Avenue (number 1400, ZIP 24501), (434) 847-1303, a facility that also takes Amherst, Appomattox, Campbell and Lynchburg youth. A detention hearing must follow within 72 hours, normally the next court day.

Outcomes and transfer

Once a petition is proved, Bedford's JDR judge chooses rehabilitative options such as supervision, repaying losses, service hours or counseling, reserving commitment to the Department of Juvenile Justice for grave or repeated offending. Certain felony charges against a youth of at least 14 may be sent up to the adult court following a transfer hearing, and 16- and 17-year-olds charged with the gravest offenses can be certified by the prosecutor after probable cause is found. Cases that stay in JDR court are generally confidential.

Bedford County and the town sit in the Western District of Virginia, so federal prosecutions from here are heard in Lynchburg, roughly 25 miles east, in that court's Lynchburg Division.

• U.S. District Court clerk, 1101 Court Street, Suite A66, Lynchburg, VA 24504, (434) 847-5722
• Prosecutors: the U.S. Attorney, Room 906 at 310 1st Street SW in Roanoke (24011), (540) 857-2250
• Defense: the Federal Public Defender, Suite 400 at 210 First Street SW in Roanoke, (540) 777-0880, with panel attorneys taking conflicts

Why a Bedford case turns federal

Offenses on the Blue Ridge Parkway near the Peaks of Otter or in the Jefferson National Forest can be charged federally, petty ones before a magistrate judge. Away from federal land, cases move to federal court when a federal agency investigated them or the conduct breaks a federal statute, such as large drug rings, felons with guns, bank robbery, online child exploitation or fraud.

Process

A magistrate judge handles the first appearance and decides release under the Bail Reform Act, with Pretrial Services supervision or detention after a hearing; bondsmen play no role. Indictment is due within 30 days of a complaint and trial within 70 days, minus excludable delay. Because the federal system dropped parole, about 85 percent of any prison term is actually served, then supervised release follows. The Fourth Circuit hears appeals. After sentencing, search the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator; before that, a federal defendant may be kept at a regional jail that contracts with the Marshals.