Cecil Taylor left his body on April 5, 2018, at the age of eighty-nine. While I only infrequently mention the passing of people on this blog, lest it become an obituary blog rather than law blog, Cecil merits this pause to deeply thank and bow...
Fairfax criminal lawyer on criminal liability for discharging a firearm indoors in Virginia. Unlawful firearm discharge indoors is a Class 4 or 6 felony in Virginia (depending on whether malice is involved), respectively carrying up to ten and five years in prison. As a Fairfax...
Fairfax criminal lawyer is back to blogging Blogging returns to this website after my family had a great visit to New Mexico. Fairfax criminal lawyer on tribal courts. The first picture here is the Ohkay Owingeh Judicial Complex/ courthouse at a pueblo only a few miles...
Virginia lawyer on the need for criminal suspects to remain silent. Silent mouths are essential for criminal suspects. As a Virginia criminal lawyer, I have repeatedly seen the benefits of following this rule of silence, and too often seen the damage from violating it....
Fairfax criminal lawyer on the Virginia Forensic Science Department and Petitions for Writs of Actual Innocence. Virginia Forensic Science Department -- also known as the Department of Forensic Science or DFS -- is involved in such wide-ranging activities as governing breath and blood testing for...
Fairfax criminal lawyer on the risks of fleeing suspects being convicted for nearby abandoned handguns Abandoned handguns can convict nearby fleeing suspects. I know this as a Fairfax criminal lawyer, and Calvin Cardale Townes learned the same, as affirmed this week by the Virginia Court of...
Fairfax criminal lawyer points out the differing scope of appellate rights depending on the court where a guilty plea is entered. Appeal rights after a guilty plea depend on which court took the plea. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I here address those differing appeal rights...
Virginia DUI lawyer on getting to firm ground after a DUI arrest. Virginia DUI charges call for full and skilled defense. As a Virginia DUI lawyer following up on the first of this two-part article (entitled "Beware DUI guilty plea consequences"), I resume by addressing...
Fairfax DUI lawyer on fallout risks from DUI convictions. Beware DUI guilty plea (and no contest/ nolo contendere/ Alford plea) consequences. As a Fairfax DUI lawyer, I know that through very effective lobbying, by now Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and their allies have...
Actual innocence reversals are not common in Virginia, but that does not mean that a criminal defendant should not consider that avenue. Today's blogpost is the second of a two-part article on this issue. ...
Beware pleading guilty, no contest/nolo contendere, or Alford. Doing so bypasses your Constitutional right to trial and hands the prosecutor a conviction. Consequently, as a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that before departing from a not guilty/innocent plea, a criminal defendant needs to have fully...
Prolonged police traffic stops too often fly in the face of the Fourth Amendment's prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that police try to use traffic stops as a pretext to investigate for such more serious and unrelated...
Commercial driver licenses ("CDL") issued in Virginia are at risk for a whole host of convictions for Virginia criminal charges and traffic infraction charges. The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles website here provides an overview of these CDL risks from such driving convictions as DUI/driving...
Local news interviewed me on February 14, 2018, for its televised story aired the same date about the Virginia legislature-passed law permitting physicians to prescribe CBD and THC-A oils to patients. The local news segments with me begin here, shortly after minute 1:00. I blogged...
Virginia's presumption of no bail law gets no presumption of innocence offset, as confirmed this week by Virginia's Supreme Court. Virginia v. Duse, ___ Va. ___ (Feb. 12, 2018). As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know the harshness of Virginia (Va. Code § 19.2-1202) and...
Virginia probation revocations -- as well as probation revocations in any other American jurisdiction -- are risked by new convictions for crimes committed during one's probation period. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know the stiff probation revocation sentencing that can result from proof of...
Virginia marijuana law is woefully behind neighboring District of Columbia and Maryland, which both do not criminalize possession of personal amounts of marijuana (but D.C. still criminalizes smoking marijuana in public). As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that Virginia police overemphasize ferreting out marijuana...
Marijuana field testing is junk science. As a Virginia criminal lawyer, I say so, because even a drug chemist's testimony is subject to reasonable inquiry and sometimes attack, even when the chemist is completely legitimate with his or her credentials and honesty....
DUI repeat charges should be avoided like the plague. Nonetheless, my urging people not to drive within 24 hours of consuming any alcohol either often falls on deaf ears or never reaches those ears in the first place, until it is too late....
Challenging showup identifications is a must for criminal defendants whose guilt or innocence rises or falls on post-crime identification by the alleged crime victim or witnesses to the incident. Daquan Lamar Scott's lawyers knew about and pursued challenging showup identifications, but Scott nonetheless got convicted...
