Virginia DUI pitfalls loom around virtually every corner for those who get behind the wheel too soon after drinking beer, wine or other alcohol in the Commonwealth. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I address below some practical and less obvious approaches to avoiding becoming a...
Advocating for criminal defendants when judges blunder is part of the job of a criminal defense lawyer. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that many judges will royally blunder in making numerous vital decisions. The humble judges who blunder have better potential for getting...
Sentencing success for criminal defendants comes through offering a persuasively alternative narrative to that of the prosecutor. Prosecutors are trained to demonize convicted criminal defendants and to make the sentencing judge averse to having his or her face pasted on the newspapers' front pages...
Court victory is never obtained through wishful thinking, stroking a lucky rabbit's foot, nor good looks. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that court victory comes from a lawyer's relying on his or her own ability, wits, human greatness, sweat and toil....
Marijuana decriminalization and legalization are near and dear to my heart both as a Fairfax criminal lawyer and as a civil libertarian. The sky does not fall with marijuana decriminalization...
Terrorism runs rampant in the world, fueled by hate, vendettas, senselessness, power grabs, terror campaigns, and more. This not being a murder blog, I only select a few crimes to look at in the larger context of the legal system and human behavior. Sayfullo Saipov's...
Financial crime can get their perpetrators into hot water, as can lying to federal law enforcement agents and obstruction of justice. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I see the latest lessons in that from this week's financial crimes indictment against former Trump campaign manager Paul J. Manafort,...
Marijuana legalization efforts nationwide have come a long way over the past few decades, moving from decriminalization of small amounts in some quarters, to medical marijuana legalization, to legalization in several states, to outright legalized cannabis vending in such states as Colorado....
On October 29, 2017, American Indian Movement co-founding leader Dennis Banks went to the spirit world, as his family recounts, after heart bypass surgery....
As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that police would prefer the non-existence of the half-century-old Supreme Court Miranda opinion that requires police to advise in-custody criminal suspects of their Fifth Amendment right to remain silent before non-booking police questioning begins....
Fairfax criminal defendants and other Virginia defendants charged with DUI need not only to fight the DUI charge, but also to be ready for fallout to their driving privileges from such a conviction. [caption id="attachment_71472" align="alignright" width="300"] Fairfax criminal lawyer warns about repeat DUI offenses &...
Virginia DUI law only makes sense if it outlaws drunk driving, not something less than driving drunk. However, as a Virginia DUI lawyer, I know that the Virginia Code and caselaw allow for a DUI conviction for much less than driving drunk, thus turning logic,...
Child porn is a crime that garners revulsion and little immediate sympathy from judges, jurors, prosecutors and the public. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer who defends such cases in Virginia, I know how vital it is to humanize the client (as with all criminal cases)...
As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I see a sensible connection between lawful access to marijuana and the decline of opioid deaths in states where marijuana is partially legalized....
When I blogged about using threat ability a as a key component of winning, a non-lawyer friend told me he saw a glaring absence of my addressing compassion, which subject is essential for me as a person and Fairfax criminal lawyer. That point is well...
Threat is an ingredient to winning. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer and martial arts practitioner, I know this to be very true. That is why I repeatedly advise clients not to plead guilty if the prosecutor is not prepared to go to trial. That is...
Collateral estoppel law generally prevents prosecutors from relitigating facts already established at certain prior criminal court proceedings. Unfortunately, today the Virginia Supreme Court placed strict boundaries on the extent to which criminal defendants can benefit from collateral estoppel relief, which is grounded in the United...
Chain of custody involves the chronological movement, treatment, and physical changes of criminal case evidence from the time it comes into existence, and then is collected, packaged, transported, opened and repackaged. The importance of reliable chain of custody includes such factors as assuring the correct...
Firearm convictions are possible without the weapon's recovery, at least when it has been fired. As a Virginia criminal/Second Amendment lawyer defending prosecutions for firearms, handguns, knives and other weapons, one of my first lines of defense in such cases is to attack whether the prosecutor...
Police love making arrests. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that police are not only to look to prosecute for the arrest itself, but also to possibly find contraband on the arrestee that will enable further criminal charges. Police are also going to look...
