Underdog Blog – Fairfax Criminal Defense Lawyer | Virginia DUI Attorney

Yesterday, I kept pinching myself in ecstasy over the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision requiring police to have probable cause to believe the existence of relevant criminal activity before taking a drug-sniffing dog to the front door of one’s home. Florida v. Jardines, ___ U.S. ___...

My criminal defense clients come to me often feeling out of balance. I often am among the first people they tell about their predicament. This situation is imperfectly akin to a seriously injured emergency room visitor hoping to be helped by a doctor with all the attributes...

Clarence Gideon. Beyond — and also part of — the fanfare of yesterday’s fiftieth anniversary of Gideon v. Wainright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963) (requires making available tax-paid lawyers for indigent defendants facing incarcerable prosecutions, under the Sixth Amendment), here are some of my own thoughts:...

“Jon,” an able Virginia criminal defense colleague said to me, “sometimes I just concede probable cause to arrest my DWI client, to keep out the preliminary breath test.” Why do that? Judges are not allowed at bench trials to consider suppression hearing evidence for the...

Last Friday, I returned for my nearly annual invitation to speak with graduate students at George Washington University’s Human Sexuality class. From what I can tell, the fields the students might go into include school counseling, mental hospitals, and private counseling. I provided this handout...

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit is often referred to as one of the more conservative circuits for criminal law. Fortunately, the Fourth Circuit breaks from that characterization from time to time, including earlier this week, when the court determined that...

My close friend and teacher Trudy Morse — a great grandmother who learned many key life lessons before I ever was born — once wrote in thanks to those who supported her along the path of life. Local taijiquan teacher David Walls Kaufman, who very generously...

For me to truly help my client, I need to shed my lawyer’s cloak, keep and enhance my humanity, and find the place where my client is, so that we may move forward together. A criminal defense colleague of mine told a great true story...

Today through this Saturday is a golden opportunity for area criminal defense lawyers to attend the Washington, D.C., quarterly CLE conference of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, which last had a quarterly conference in this area in 1999. The continuing legal education program is...

In all state-level courthouses where I practice, prosecutors take over a table in the courtroom well within feet of the judge, unless a jury trial is scheduled there. Depending on the courthouse, judge and circumstances, a criminal defense lawyer who tries entering the well before...