Impaired driving convictions risk jail and other adverse penalties. As a Virginia DUI lawyer, I know the importance of pursuing a full court press against such prosecutions. I know how important it is to move the judge and jury away from piecemeal evaluation of cases...
Double jeopardy rights are enshrined in the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution: No person shall be "subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb." As a Fairfax County, Virginia, criminal defense lawyer, I have long known...
Pot criminalization unnecessarily taxes limited government budgets and civil liberties. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer and civil libertarian, I thank Virginia attorney general Mark Herring for recently stating his support for marijuana decriminalization as follows: "Virginia should decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, address...
Teamwork is constant among the mix of police officers and prosecutors. Likewise, as a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that teamwork between a lawyer and his or her client can spell the difference between winning and losing in court. While I have the relevant legal...
Preparing your DWI case defense needs to begin with little delay. My preference as a Virginia DUI lawyer is that you not get prosecuted nor convicted in the first place. Consequently, it is ideal for people to know their rights with the police and risks...
Fearless approaches backed by ability and experience are essential for defending the accused in court. As a Virginia criminal lawyer I know that in the heat of battle all that matters to win is ability, experience, wits, cunning and no fear. Enjoying the combat also...
Questioning by police is commonplace with investigations for possible DUI, felonies and misdemeanors. As a Fairfax DUI lawyer, I know that absence of Miranda rights is not always a bar to admitting the suspect's statements into evidence. At the same time, such rights do not...
Suspects and everyone else have the right to remain silent with police. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I have seen too many criminal defendants create their own nooses by not keeping their mouths shut with police. Even in states requiring a person to identify himself...
Sobriety testing -- also known as standard field sobriety testing, SFST or FST -- is a tool relied on by police in deciding whether to arrest a person for DUI and reporting on such cases, and then relied on by prosecutors in trying to obtain...
Voters on June 11 favored reform-talking challengers over incumbents who had previously received the seal of approval of their long-serving predecessors, in Fairfax County and Arlington/Falls Church. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer who has maintained a sidelines wait-and-see view about how much more good than...
Driving restrictions are onerous for a DWI conviction under Va. Code § 18.2-266 and pour salt in the wounds of already having such a conviction, and even more so for those receiving active jail time for such a conviction. As a Virginia DUI lawyer, I...
Waiving rights with police is all too common by criminal suspects who do not have attorneys. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that it rarely benefits an unrepresented criminal suspect to relinquish his or her rights to remain silent with the police, to have...
Intox EC/IR II (Intox) testing is the sole breath test machine approved by the Virginia Department of Forensic Science (DFS) in DWI cases. As a Fairfax DUI lawyer, I know how essential it is to aggressively challenge the admissibility, reliability and meaning of such test...
Breath testing is the preferred method of alcohol testing by police officers in Virginia DWI cases. As a Virginia DUI lawyer, I know that a full-court press needs to be pursued against breath testing results in such cases. Breath testing is fallible both with the...
[caption id="attachment_80782" align="alignright" width="300"] Testifying in Virginia criminal court- Part II[/caption] Testifying in Virginia criminal court requires thorough and intelligent preparation Testifying for the criminal defense is no merely simple exercise of engaging in questions and answers, which I know as a Virginia criminal lawyer. This is...
Testimony in court by criminal defendants needs to be carefully and thoroughly prepared in tandem with the defendant's attorney. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that the decision whether to testify -- thus waiving the defendant's Fifth Amendment right to remain silent -- is...
Protecting the preliminary hearing (PH) right is critical, as underlined in my last blog entry. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that prosecutors sometimes will try to avoid a PH by direct indicting, by seeking a nolle prosequi/ non-prejudicial case dismissal (which cannot be...
Preliminary hearings in Virginia are an opportunity for the criminal defense lawyer to challenge "whether there is reasonable ground to believe that he committed" the alleged felony(ies). Va. Code § 19.2-218. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know how important is the preliminary hearing date...
Developing a persuasive defense story is vital for criminal defendants in all trials. As a Virginia DUI lawyer, I know that police in DWI trials often testify from a menu of a defendant's committing one or more moving violations; having an odor of alcohol; having...
Harmless error findings on appeal from a criminal conviction can preclude obtaining appellate relief. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer I know that trial victory is better than waiting for the long process in the Virginia Court of Appeals or commonwealth Supreme Court to see whether...
