Legalize marijuana as much as alcohol is legalized, and our civil liberties will flourish exponentially. Police repeatedly troll for marijuana odor, to seize on such odor as probable cause to search for marijuana and other contraband. The District of Columbia heavily decriminalized marijuana to address...
Everyone gets angry, at least sometimes. Anger, rooted in fear, is weakening and even debilitating. However, it also is debilitating for us to beat up on ourselves for getting angry, and to beat up on ourselves for anything. We must continue on the positive and...
Misidentification is rampant in causing arrests, prosecutions and convictions. I have said it before, including here. I also say it today, with the news of an innocent Kansas inmate -- Richard Jones -- freed 17 years from incarceration, only after he learned about a look-alike...
Beware when judges and prosecutors dangle before criminal defendants the prospect of an ultimate dismissal of a criminal case after first necessitating a finding of facts sufficient to prove guiltB , whether under Va. Code § 19.2-303.2 or otherwise. Beware even when criminal defense lawyers encourage...
Assuming that Joshua Charles Moseley was innocent of his conviction for two counts of burglary, he would have benefited nicely by following my advice to beware who has access to your car -- and whose car you borrow, for that matter -- rather than letting...
Every challenge is an opportunity to learn and grow stronger. Every seemingly trespassing person is one of our new teachers. As Tara Brach reminds us, we can invite Mara (representing our internal and external enemies) to tea, to face these challenges head on. This approach...
One of the first things many potential clients ask when calling my law firm is how much I bill. Legal fees are an important consideration, and I cover this discussion at your initial consultation with me. I bill fairly based on the expected work at...
The prostitution police stings continue, including in my headquarters county of Fairfax, Virginia. I have blogged before about defenses against prostitution prosecutions. Now I address a unifying approach I recently used in three prostitution sting defenses from two separate stings, to convert the original prostitution...
Early in my criminal defense career, two different public defender lawyers who were much more experienced than I at the time opined that (1) many of our convicted felony clients are seriously mentally ill and (2) many of our clients will not hesitate to do...
What motivates your potential criminal defense lawyer to do the work s/he does? Being a former prosecutor does not answer whether the lawyer has the drive to do criminal defense work, nor does such experience preclude the lawyer from being great in criminal defense. Coming...
Part of defending such allegations is not only to challenge the newest DWI charge, but also to attack whether the prosecution has proven the prior convictions, and whether any prior out-of-state DWI conviction are substantially similar to Virginia's DWI statute. Va Code § 18.2-270(E). Virginia's...
Memorial Day -- a day of remembering those American military members who died in war -- is filled with parades, weekends away, pool openings, cookouts, and retail sales. I have experienced my share of military pomp and circumstance, including marching while playing my trumpet in...
On May 23, 2017, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled 2-1 that Wikimedia has standing to challenge upstream surveillance by the National Security Agency ("NSA"). Wikimedia says" "The government has acknowledged that it conducts two forms of surveillance under Section...
Like bear feasting on salmon swimming upstream, police often troll for arrestees in such easy picking areas as bar neighborhoods and at such times as Memorial Day weekend. If that were not so, why are Arlington County, Virginia, police out in force on Friday and...
During the Cold War, the United States and Soviet Union did not trust each other, but instead negotiated with each other because each had enough nuclear weapon firepower practically or actually to decimate humanity. Similarly, criminal defense lawyers and their clients must beware trusting prosecutors,...
Last night, my son and I attended Tape Face's only appearance in the Washington, D.C., area for his current tour. I had been looking forward to this performance very much, and even more to spending a weeknight on the town with my son. Tape Face,...
Last September 2016, I blogged about Tulsa police officer Betty Shelby's killing of unarmed Terence Crutcher. Video footage of the incident is here. Subsequently, officer Shelby was brought to trial on a manslaughter charge for her killing of Terence Crutcher. After around nine hours of...
During some DWI bench trials, it appears that judges are using a piece of paper to check off information about the defendant's purported performance on the junk science field sobriety tests. I hope that no judges are using a pre-printed checklist -- and if so,...
Recently, I was minding my own business, waiting for my client in the hallway of the Fairfax County jail's attorneys visiting section. Then I heard commotion where three meeting rooms away from mine, an inmate was ranting and raving at his lawyer, a kindly-spoken public...
Recently, an unrepresented jail inmate appeared in a General District Court well outside Northern Virginia -- where I, therefore, only infrequently appear -- apparently for an arraignment. The prosecutor early on mentioned a motion he had filed that day or recently, seeking a court order...
