Underdog Blog – Fairfax Criminal Defense Lawyer | Virginia DUI Attorney

Victims rights (VR) must not be permitted to trample Virginia criminal defendants' rights. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that they should not even be called Virginia victims (VV's) -- versus alleged VV's or complainants -- before a conviction takes place. I further know...

Virginia Circuit Court judges must articulate the reason for their denying bond / bail / pretrial release to a criminal defendant, for the reasons addressed below. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I have experienced District Court judges who do not state those reasons. Their reasoning...

Virginia prosecutors not your friends when you are a criminal defense lawyer. Anyone who tells you otherwise is offering a bill of goods to be avoided like the plague. Even the Fairfax commonwealth's attorney's office and other Northern Virginia prosecutor's offices claiming a progressive bent...

Attacking field sobriety testing (FST) is an essential part of Virginia DUI defense against prosecutions under Virginia Code § 18.2-266, both to challenge the legality of the arrest and to argue that the prosecutor has not proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty...

Alcohol abstinence mandates after leaving court with a Fairfax DUI conviction (and maybe even a wet reckless driving conviction) can feel like an insult after already suffering the unpleasantness of such a case outcome. As a Fairfax DWI lawyer, I know that more serious than...

Virginia DUI sentencing enhancement risks can go beyond mandatory minimum sentencing for such factors as repeat DWI offenses, blood alcohol content of 0.15 or more, DUI with maiming and DUI with death. As a Fairfax DWI lawyer, I know that other factors can also aggravate...

Fairfax diversion is a pilot program called Taking Root, that was announced in April 2022 by county commonwealth's attorney Steve Descano, with this news release. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I have looked for but not found many details about this program outside the foregoing...

Interlock orders at first blush may weigh heavily on defendants in Virginia DWI trials. As a Virginia DUI lawyer, I know that sometimes an ignition interlock device (IID) order results from a deal that converts a DUI count to wet reckless, or from the option...

Attestation clauses (AC's) need to be signed by breathalyzer machine operators to effectuate the Virginia law that gives prosecution-friendly meaning to such testing. Virginia Code §§ 18.2-268.9, 19.2-187, and 19.2-187.1. As a Fairfax DUI lawyer, I religiously check the certificate of analysis for whether the...

Arson investigations typically include firefighters and police. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I repeatedly analyze how the Fourth Amendment applies not only to police, but also to all other relevant government personnel, including fire fighters and government-employed emergency medical technicians (EMT's) / paramedics. Amidst horrifying...