Underdog Blog – Fairfax Criminal Defense Lawyer | Virginia DUI Attorney

Satisfying misdemeanor complainants to recommend a judicial dismissal is critical for you and your Virginia attorney to consider. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I have lawfully obtained many misdemeanor dismissals by bypassing the prosecutor, and negotiating a civil settlement with the complainant. This is a...

Contraband prosecutions abound in Virginia, whether that be for drugs, allegedly possessed weapons, allegedly stolen items, cigarettes destined for the gray or black market, or anything else. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know how risk it is for you to be with people, at...

Principal in second degree (PSD) convictions cannot be obtained merely because the defendant was present at the time of the crime. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that such convicteions require actual or constructive presene at the crime scene together with an over act...

Venue victory (VV) is not common, but your Virginia attorney nonetheless needs to be ready to determine whether to pursue a victory out of the matter. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that a Virginia court has to have territorial jurisdiction over a prosecution...

Elements of the charged crime (ECC) are essential for your attorney to challenge. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that a prosecutor "bears the burden to prove each element of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt." Goldman v. Commonwealth of Virginia, 74 Va. App. 556, 562 (2022) (citing Kenner v. Com., 71 Va....

Virginia probation agents (VPAs) can make their probationers' lives a living hell, or not. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that VPAs have many demands on their schedules, including directly supervising probationers, preparing presentence reports (PSRs), drafting probation violation reports, appearing in court for...

Protective orders (PO's) in Virginia are not effective on a respondent / defendat before the respondent is served a copy of the order or otherwise sufficiently put on notice of the order. Claramunt v. Commonwealth of Virginia, ___ Va. App. ___ (2025). Moreover, the Virginia Court...

Police tactics are many for extracting confessions from criminal suspects, consenting to searches by law enforcement officers (LEO), and agreeing to engage in field sobriety testing (FSTs or SFSTs) for Virginia DUI investigations. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know you have a Fifth and...

Virginia probation revocation (VPR) proceedings can be very stressful on defendants. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that 2021 brought a great statutory change that limits penalties for alleged "technical" probation violations, versus new convictions that cause a probation violation. Virginia Code § 19.2-306.1 However, if...

SCVA DUI decisions are infrequent, which makes them all the more worthy of attention. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I see that the Poulson v. Commonwealth of Virginia opinion reinforces limits on entitlement to Miranda warnings and does without an arrest warrant requirement when police already are on...