Underdog Blog – Fairfax Criminal Defense Lawyer | Virginia DUI Attorney

By Jon Katz, a criminal defense lawyer and DWI/ DUI/ Drunk Driving lawyer advocating in Fairfax County, Virginia, Montgomery County, Maryland, and beyond for the best possible results for his clients. https://katzjustice.com This past Friday, Dr. Joy Browne interviewed me on her talk radio show on  WOR 710-AM (710wor.iheart.com) about Amazon pedophile...

Image from public domain. When police seem to catch a suspect red-handed with drugs, is all automatically lost? No. Defenses still can include contesting the stop and search that leads to the discovery of the alleged drugs; challenging whether the seized item(s) is actually a...

By Jon Katz, a criminal defense lawyer and DWI/ DUI/ Drunk Driving lawyer advocating in Fairfax County, Virginia, Montgomery County, Maryland, and beyond for the best possible results for his clients. I will be on NYC’s WOR 710-AM’s (710wor.iheart.com) Dr. Joy Browne Show around 2:20-2:40 p.m. today about the law applying...

When I am in a room of trial judges presenting a seminar, I sometimes urge them to expand the opportunity for lawyer-directed voir dire jury questioning/selection rather than letting judges do it. In Virginia, the law permits lawyer-directed voir dire, whereas custom permits it in...

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,...