Underdog Blog – Fairfax Criminal Defense Lawyer | Virginia DUI Attorney
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Pursuing Your Best Defense Since 1991
Criminal defense lawyers should be immune from testifying against their clients at their criminal trials
Mario Turner got convicted — and sentenced to several years in prison — for aggravated malicious wounding and use of firearm during the commission of a felony. Turner v. Virginia, ___ Va. App. ___ (July 26, 2011). Standing out most about Turner is neither his conviction...
When a capital conviction is reversed over the wrongful striking of one potential juror
On July 14, 2011, I blogged about Norfolk federal trial Judge Raymond A.] Jackson’s reversal of Justin Michael Wolfe’s capital conviction, primarily due to his finding of serious failures of the prosecution to disclose exculpatory/Brady evidence. It is ironic that a case opinion as important as this...
Federal judge gives full teeth to Brady v. Maryland
Six weeks after my birth, the United States Supreme Court issued the landmark opinion of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963), requiring prosecutors to disclose material exculpatory evidence upon the request of the defense: “We now hold that the suppression by the prosecution of...
Defendants retain their Fifth Amendment right to remain silent at sentencing
A criminal defendant’s right to remain silent does not go out the door through a conviction following a guilty plea or trial. Mitchell v. U.S., 526 U.S. 314, 119 S.Ct. 1307 (1999). Mitchell is black letter law, despite the firm dissent of four justices therefrom....
Acquittal through storytelling from the scene
A critical part of persuasion is storytelling, including bringing the jury within the circle of the story. Of course, storytelling alone may not be persuasive enough, because trials ordinarily involve various versions of the truth and challenges to the credibility and reliability of various opposing witnesses...
A tale of judges ruling 5-4 on Miranda
Bill of Rights. Miranda v. Arizona,384 U.S. 436 (1966), must be kept sacrosanct, and not made into a farce akin to a person dancing around with a fruit salad on her head. None of the sitting Supreme Court justices seem likely to vote to completely...
Beware what lurks around the corner with each new criminal conviction
Many of my clients breathe a sigh of relief when they learn that a prosecutor has offered a plea deal that is likely to result in much less incarceration time than through a trial loss, when they believe that the risks of a trial loss...
Fight like hell, always
Trial lawyers: Beware when your opponent cuts you off — aside from merely making a non-speaking objection — when you are explaining an objection or other legal argument during a trial or motions hearing. When judges have a busy docket or long day ahead of...
Je parle la justice / I speak justice
Photo from website of U.S. District Court (W.D. Mi.). Thirty-five years after I started studying and practicing French, I find Spanish much more beneficial to my professional practice. To be sure, speaking any two languages is much better than speaking just one, and I soaked...
The presumption of innocence is king
The presumption of innocence, and the requirement of proof beyond a reasonable doubt in criminal cases, must seem to be a very foreign concept to countless criminal jurors. Hopefully Twelve Angry Men (not this 12 Angry Men) will convince more people of these critical principles of criminal justice....