ABOUT THE
FIRM
George Holton
Yates & Associates is a Criminal Defense law firm with offices located in
Virginia Beach, Virginia. We specialize in criminal defense. We are
experienced, dedicated, hard-working, and committed to getting the absolute best
possible result in your criminal case. We fight to win and have had great
success.
Fighting for a
client takes many different types of skills. Winning takes many different
forms. Sometimes it means a jury trial. Fight for an acquittal. We've had
plenty of those. Other times it means fighting for a reduced charge or for
probation. Judge trials, plea agreements with Prosecutors, dismissals,deferred
findings. You name it, we're doing it every day. And we've been doing it for a
long time. ( See our "Recent Cases" section).
Whatever the
facts of the case and the needs of each individual client, we fight for the best
possible result. And we don't ever forget that you are going through the
most terrible ordeal of your life.
Although we
can never guarantee the result of your individual case, you can be certain that
you will rest a whole lot easier after you have spoken with us.
Call
757-491-8800 24/7 for a free office consultation about your case.
STAFF
BIOGRAPHIES
George Holton Yates, Lead
Counsel
Mr. Yates has
26 years experience as lead counsel in thousands of criminal cases, to judges
and juries in every city and county in the Greater Hampton Roads region. He has
also defended in North Carolina, West Virginia, and Florida.
Mr. Yates is a
former Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney for the City of Virginia Beach
(1985-1989) and has been certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy as a
Criminal Trial Specialist (1987, 2002, and re-certified in 2007).
Mr. Yates is a
graduate of Wake Forest Law School. He completed law school in 1982, and was
admitted to the Virginia Bar just days after. He worked initially in Tampa,
Florida, for Salem, Musial and Morse, P.A. and was admitted to the Florida Bar
in 1983, before returning to his native Virginia Beach in 1984 and working for
former Congressman Owen Pickett's law firm, Pickett, Lyle, Siegal, Drescher and
Croshaw, P.C.
In 1985 Mr.
Yates was appointed Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney in the Office of the
Commonwealth's Attorney for the City of Virginia Beach. From 1985 to 1989, as an
Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney, he tried hundreds of jury and judge trials of
every kind of criminal case, from child sex abuse to DUI to murder. He
successfully prosecuted the first criminal trial ever televised in Virginia,
Commonwealth v. Wilmoth in 1988, in addition to many other highly publicized
cases.
During his time
with the Commonwealth's Attorney office, Mr. Yates became more aware of the
special needs of criminal defendants, and how poorly some of them were
represented by their lawyers. There were many times during those years as a
prosecuting attorney that he observed defense lawyers failing to make critical
arguments for their clients. He often found himself making those arguments for
the defense simply to make sure those defendants were treated fairly by the
judge or jury.
Mr.Yates left
the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office in 1989 and started this firm. Later in
1989, Mr. Yates was appointed Special Prosecuting Attorney for about 40 felony
criminal cases, and continued to prosecute as well as defend criminal cases for
another two years. From 1989 to 1995, he did every kind of law: criminal
defense, personal injury, civil and construction litigation, domestic relations,
wills and trusts, real estate, even some business law. He taught a business law
class for the City of Virginia Beach and continued to serve as a commercial law
arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association. All through those early
years, however, he concentrated his practice in the area of criminal defense
.
In recent years
, Mr.Yates has devoted his practice almost exclusively to criminal defense, and
has developed a considerable reputation for successfully defending sex and
computer crimes, DUI, and all types of criminal matters. Go to ourRecent
Cases section for examples of our firm's experience.
Jamison Page Rasberry, Associate
Counsel
Mr. Rasberry is a graduate of Clemson University in South Carolina where he earned a Bachelor of
Science in Economics. His studies at the undergraduate level
focused on the economic impact of environmental regulations, and other topics
through statistical modeling. Upon graduating form Clemson Mr.
Rasberry began a brief venture into small business management leading him into a
research position in the tax department of Washington Mutual. Soon thereafter
Mr. Rasberry relocated to the Commonwealth where he attended classes at
Virginia Beach’s
own Regent University School of Law and received his Juris Doctorate.
Mr. Rasberry has been with our firm since
the summer of 2007 and is now very familiar with the courts in Hampton Roads and
the surrounding area. He is a proud member of the Virginia State Bar and is
licensed to practice in all courts of this Commonwealth, in Federal Court and in
Bankruptcy Court.
