Underdog Blog – Fairfax Criminal Defense Lawyer | Virginia DUI Attorney

Cesar Chavez: A champion for the empowerment of workers and immigrants. Your immigration status is your own business. Whether or not law enforcement personnel have the authority to ask you your immigration status, you have no obligation to answer. Certainly, people in the United States...

Abbey Road revisited. This morning, a gaggle of geese crossing a busy street gave drivers a chance to step back from their Friday hustle-bustle. I excused myself from my cellphone call to snap this photo. John Johnson emphasized to me the importance of finding quiet and...

Photo from website of U.S. District Court (W.D. Mi.). Prosecutors ordinarily are prohibited from mentioning to the jury that a defendant did not take the witness stand or remained silent prior to the trial date. Underlining the importance for criminal defendants to argue both under...

Although drug possession consists of knowledge, dominion and control over the drugs, that does not automatically prevent a person from being arrested, prosecuted and convicted for being in the knowing presence of drugs without having any other involvement with them. Last Friday, Maryland’s highest court,...

When Barack Obama ran for president, I predicted that despite his overgeneralized talk of change that I would be no more satisfied with him than with Bill Clinton, with whom I was only moderately satisfied.  On the obscenity prosecution front, it turns out that Barack...

My ABC news contact informed me that my Nightline interview should air tonight. (UPDATE: It will be next week. That’s what happens when an item is not late-breaking news.) More details are here. Here is an article on the segment, including a quote from me.

DEA image in the public domain. Can humans detect unburnt cocaine odor? The Maryland Court of Special Appeals said in 2003 it is “scientifically impossible that the confiscated drug could be detected because the cocaine seized and the caffeine with which it was cut had no detectible odor.”...

Early this afternoon, I interviewed at ABC’s Washington, D.C., studio for its Nightline segment on exotic cabarets — also known as strip clubs — in the light of Missouri’s recent silliness in passing a law banning full nudity, liquor, and tipping while topless at such...

I often hear people, including criminal defense colleagues, rallying around candidates for judges and chief prosecutors. Rarely do I hear talk in such promotions, and during confirmation hearings, about the extent to which the judge will be overly harsh with setting bonds and setting sentences. ...

Last September, I blogged about efforts in the United States House of Representatives to eliminate bars to federal financial aid for simple drug possession convictions. My recent check on Congress’s Thomas website showed that the measure passed the House of Representatives and was referred to...