Underdog Blog – Fairfax Criminal Defense Lawyer | Virginia DUI Attorney

Virginia marijuana defendants in some Virginia District courtrooms constitute a parade of unrepresented people on their first court date. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that word has gotten out that if a marijuana possession defendant has no relevant prior convictions, s/he can save...

Photo from website of U.S. District Court (W.D. Mi.). Police and prosecutors may be fond of presenting testimony to interpret alleged drug dealers’ words. However, they should beware, after the comparatively conservative (including for criminal cases) Fourth Circuit confirmed stiff barriers to such testimony. U.S. v. Johnson, 617 F.3d 286...

Court filing deadlines often can be harsh and inflexible, including for filing criminal and civil notices of appeal. It is best to meet court deadlines well ahead of time to avoid cold sweats when the court is closed due to inclement weather on the last...

An arrest is but an arrest, and is not a conviction. Know your rights. (Image from FBI’s website). By Jon Katz, a criminal defense lawyer and DWI/ DUI/ Drunk Driving lawyer fighting for the best possible results in the courts of Fairfax County, Virginia, Montgomery County, Maryland, and...

A colleague recently told me that he has previously complied with prosecutors’ requests for affidavits responding to his former criminal defense clients’ post conviction petitions. At least according to a July 2010 ABA formal opinion, providing such an affidavit is inadviseable, at the very least. I agree, mainly for...

1975’s groundbreaking One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest film highlighted the dangers of forced mental institutionalization, forced medication, forced electroshock therapy, and forced lobotomies (I question whether lobotomies can ever do more good than harm). Whether or not influenced by public outcries following Cuckoo’s Nest,...

Two nights ago while I was about to make a U-turn around a blocked-off street while police searched the Discovery Channel building after James Lee had already been killed, a woman crossing the street in front of me started asking if I could give her a...

Each week, Law Crossing adds a lawyer to its Law Star Hall of Fame. The website has added me to its list with a review entitled "Jon Katz: An Eclectic Attorney in an Otherwise Predictable Legal System." Law Crossing’s review heavily repackages some of my clients’ online...

Camera image from U.S. Geological Survey website.   BBC TV Channel 1 has posted my live interview that aired today on the South East Today  program (or programme for those on the other side of the Atlantic). The clip is here (update: the link expired after 24...

Image from National Institute of Standards & Technology. Unfortunately, the state of the law reduces how carefree one may feel being in a car with others. If the car is stopped — or a house searched — and contraband is found on anyone in the car or...