Failure to register and re-register as a sex offender is a jailable offense in Virginia, whose statutory law requires such registration for those convicted of murder and such sexual offenses as sexually violent offenses, carnal knowledge with a child of thirteen to fifteen years old,...
Secondary traffic offenses in Virginia are traffic violations that expressly do not permit the issuance of a traffic citation, summons or ticket unless in conjunction with a primary offense, which is a violation of one of more other traffic or criminal laws of the commonwealth....
Special need is sometimes used by police to try to justify stopping people when they do not have probable cause nor individualized reasonable articulable suspicion to stop, frisk or search a person for evidence of criminal activity. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I am disheartened...
Convincing people starts from engaging them as human to human. As a Virginia criminal lawyer, I know that this engagement is not solely directed at their minds, but at their levels at the gut, heart , and feelings -- their feelings of inspiration from the...
Voir dire -- French for "to speak the truth" -- is the phase for Virginia lawyers to ask questions of the potential jurors / venire members, to assist in seeking to strike potential jurors for cause, seeking to rehabilitate them from being stricken for...
Drug cases (marijuana and non-marijuana) are among the most common non-traffic / non-DUI prosecutions on Virginia criminal court dockets. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I have defended hundreds of such cases, and provide some insights herein on such defense....
Declining requested breath or blood testing in a Virginia DUI case does not automatically mean that the DWI defendant will avoid blood alcohol content (BAC) evidence from being obtained. Very frequently where I practice as a Fairfax criminal lawyer, police are obtaining search warrants to...
Race-based juror strikes by either party's lawyer is Constitutionally prohibited. Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986). As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know the importance for defense lawyers timely to raise well-Virginia Supreme Court justice is unconvinced by prosecutor's claim of race-neutral reason for...
Technical challenges to breath and blood testing are very important for defending against DWI prosecutions. As a Virginia DUI lawyer, I prepare these challenges early on. They include the following: With both breath and blood testing technical challenges for Virginia DUI defense, it is important...
Blood alcohol testing routinely is sought by police after arresting DUI suspects, whether through breath testing or blood drawing. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know the importance of thoroughly attacking this and all parts of DUI prosecutions. Virginia law requires a DUI arrestee, if...
Flex Your Rights has added me to its eight-member Advisory Board. As a Fairfax Criminal Lawyer, I am honored to be joining such civil liberties fighters as Ira Glasser (Drug Policy Alliance president and past longtime ACLU exective director) and Billy Murphy, who is a...
Unreasonable refusal convictions for declining to be breath or blood tested for blood alcohol content, amount to a civil offense for a first charge and a criminal conviction for a subsequent offense (after a prior conviction for DWI or refusal). As a Fairfax criminal lawyer,...
Fast guilty and no contest plea hearings in the Virginia General District Court and Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court are common in Northern Virginia counties where appear. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that this approach with agreed pleas and sentencings between...
Revocation of probation is a risk that many criminal defendants do not consider as much as simply staying out of jail in the first place or getting released from jail as soon as possible. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that many convicted criminal...
Coercion by police is among the first things I look for as a Fairfax criminal lawyer pursuing the suppression of my client's statements to law enforcement. In 1986, the United States Supreme Court ruled that a Fifth Amendment or Miranda violation does not take place...
Double jeopardy protections apply not only to successive prosecutions on acquitted conduct, but also for multiple duplicative counts for the same act. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know the necessity of always looking for double jeopardy defenses. Howard Groffel learned the hard way that...
DUI defense in Fairfax County, Virginia has its own similarities and differences to nearby counties. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I deal with each county's differing courthouse landscape in defending against DWI and other criminal charges. I have written previously about handling criminal investigations, dealing...
Larceny / theft / false pretenses / embezzlement / financial fraud (collectively "larceny" or "theft") prosecutions threaten one's reputation, career path, immigration status, and security clearance options, let alone the serious sentencing consequences that can come from a larceny conviction. As a Fairfax criminal...
Underage drinkers and users of false identification risk prosecution under statutes that carry possible jail time. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that the days are over when the legal drinking age in many states through the 1980's was eighteen, and when using a...
Prevailing over the odds and obstacles is what I strive for as a Fairfax criminal lawyer. This means not looking for a fair playing field, a judge who will help me obtain justice, a prosecutor who will not have ice in his or her veins,...
