Criminal Defense
Special need exception to reasonable suspicion – Fairfax criminal lawyer decries it
Special need is sometimes used by police to try to justify stopping people when they do not have probable cause nor individualized reasonable articulable suspicion to stop, frisk or search a person for evidence of criminal activity. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I am disheartened...
Convincing People in the Gut Zone – A Criminal Lawyer’s Perspective
Convincing people starts from engaging them as human to human. As a Virginia criminal lawyer, I know that this engagement is not solely directed at their minds, but at their levels at the gut, heart , and feelings -- their feelings of inspiration from the...
Voir dire jury selection ideas by Fairfax criminal lawyer
Voir dire -- French for "to speak the truth" -- is the phase for Virginia lawyers to ask questions of the potential jurors / venire members, to assist in seeking to strike potential jurors for cause, seeking to rehabilitate them from being stricken for...
Declining Search Warrant for Blood – Fairfax Criminal Lawyer Weighs In
Declining requested breath or blood testing in a Virginia DUI case does not automatically mean that the DWI defendant will avoid blood alcohol content (BAC) evidence from being obtained. Very frequently where I practice as a Fairfax criminal lawyer, police are obtaining search warrants to...
Race based jury strikes addressed by Fairfax criminal lawyer
Race-based juror strikes by either party's lawyer is Constitutionally prohibited. Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986). As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know the importance for defense lawyers timely to raise well-Virginia Supreme Court justice is unconvinced by prosecutor's claim of race-neutral reason for...
Flex Your Rights Advisory Board adds Fairfax criminal lawyer Jon Katz
Flex Your Rights has added me to its eight-member Advisory Board. As a Fairfax Criminal Lawyer, I am honored to be joining such civil liberties fighters as Ira Glasser (Drug Policy Alliance president and past longtime ACLU exective director) and Billy Murphy, who is a...
Unreasonable DUI alcohol test refusal – Ideas from Fairfax Criminal Lawyer
Unreasonable refusal convictions for declining to be breath or blood tested for blood alcohol content, amount to a civil offense for a first charge and a criminal conviction for a subsequent offense (after a prior conviction for DWI or refusal). As a Fairfax criminal lawyer,...
Fast District Court plea hearings – Fairfax criminal lawyer weighs in
Fast guilty and no contest plea hearings in the Virginia General District Court and Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court are common in Northern Virginia counties where appear. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that this approach with agreed pleas and sentencings between...
Revocation of probation – Fairfax criminal lawyer on its risks
Revocation of probation is a risk that many criminal defendants do not consider as much as simply staying out of jail in the first place or getting released from jail as soon as possible. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that many convicted criminal...
Coercion – Fairfax criminal lawyer on its Fifth Amendment role
Coercion by police is among the first things I look for as a Fairfax criminal lawyer pursuing the suppression of my client's statements to law enforcement. In 1986, the United States Supreme Court ruled that a Fifth Amendment or Miranda violation does not take place...