Underdog Blog – Fairfax Criminal Defense Lawyer | Virginia DUI Attorney

I often hear people, including criminal defense colleagues, rallying around candidates for judges and chief prosecutors. Rarely do I hear talk in such promotions, and during confirmation hearings, about the extent to which the judge will be overly harsh with setting bonds and setting sentences. ...

Last September, I blogged about efforts in the United States House of Representatives to eliminate bars to federal financial aid for simple drug possession convictions. My recent check on Congress’s Thomas website showed that the measure passed the House of Representatives and was referred to...

Kudos to Virginia’s intermediate appellate court for reversing a second degree murder conviction, due to the trial court’s refusal to allow the defendant to present a self defense theory surrounding the alleged gang membership of the decedent and one of his star witnesses, to try to...

Photo from website of U.S. District Court (W.D. Mi.). Even though my own stage fright level by now is at a deep minimum, I still need to understand stage fright and ways to minimize it for my own ongoing journey, and for the sake of...

Bill of Rights (From public domain.) Early on, trial lawyers are taught to “know your judge” and your jury. As a consequence, decisions whether to proceed to trial or settle a criminal or civil case require considering the potential judges and jurors who will sit at...

Bill of Rights. (From the public domain.) Search warrants of people’s homes often are issued as a result of alleged criminal activity that takes place far from the suspect’s home. When is alleged offsite criminal activity sufficient to permit a warrant to search one’s home? In such...

Following up on my earlier post today on Padilla, I sent the following to a few local criminal defense listservs: Yesterday’s Padilla decision is destined to change the landscape for the better of how criminal defense lawyers and judges address immigration issues. Here are a...

Last week the Voice of America’s Chinese edition interviewed me for its story on the Westboro Baptist Church case that has been granted certiorari review in the Supreme Court. I defended WBC at trial, and am not currently involved with the appeal. Nevertheless, I took...

Particularly now that Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, 129 S.Ct. 2527 (2009), has become firmly entrenched in the Constitutional landscape, Sixth Amendment challenges to machine-based speed calculations should be more persuasive than ever when the people who calibrated the machine do not testify live at trial. Virginia, for instance, has...

An officer arrested a man for DWI on private property, and was not sure whether he would mention the possibility of taking a breathalyzer test, not knowing whether Virginia’s implied consent law for taking a breathalyzer test applied. After the defendant’s arrest but before the...