Underdog Blog – Fairfax Criminal Defense Lawyer | Virginia DUI Attorney

Principal in second degree (PSD) convictions cannot be obtained merely because the defendant was present at the time of the crime. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that such convicteions require actual or constructive presene at the crime scene together with an over act...

Venue victory (VV) is not common, but your Virginia attorney nonetheless needs to be ready to determine whether to pursue a victory out of the matter. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that a Virginia court has to have territorial jurisdiction over a prosecution...

Elements of the charged crime (ECC) are essential for your attorney to challenge. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that a prosecutor "bears the burden to prove each element of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt." Goldman v. Commonwealth of Virginia, 74 Va. App. 556, 562 (2022) (citing Kenner v. Com., 71 Va....

Virginia probation agents (VPAs) can make their probationers' lives a living hell, or not. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that VPAs have many demands on their schedules, including directly supervising probationers, preparing presentence reports (PSRs), drafting probation violation reports, appearing in court for...

Protective orders (PO's) in Virginia are not effective on a respondent / defendat before the respondent is served a copy of the order or otherwise sufficiently put on notice of the order. Claramunt v. Commonwealth of Virginia, ___ Va. App. ___ (2025). Moreover, the Virginia Court...

Police tactics are many for extracting confessions from criminal suspects, consenting to searches by law enforcement officers (LEO), and agreeing to engage in field sobriety testing (FSTs or SFSTs) for Virginia DUI investigations. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know you have a Fifth and...

Virginia probation revocation (VPR) proceedings can be very stressful on defendants. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that 2021 brought a great statutory change that limits penalties for alleged "technical" probation violations, versus new convictions that cause a probation violation. Virginia Code § 19.2-306.1 However, if...

SCVA DUI decisions are infrequent, which makes them all the more worthy of attention. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I see that the Poulson v. Commonwealth of Virginia opinion reinforces limits on entitlement to Miranda warnings and does without an arrest warrant requirement when police already are on...

Cherry picking is common for prosecutors while direct examining police, to use in putting the criminal defendants' statements to law enforcement officers (LEO) in the light most unfavorable to the defendant. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I recognize how maddening it can be for prosecutors...

Immigrants and all non-U.S. citizens: As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I warn you that the current presidential administration is eager to deport and not admit people with particular convictions, sentences and even particular pending criminal charges and viewpoints. This stands in stark contrast to the...