[caption id="attachment_80650" align="alignright" width="300"] Appeal when convicted in a Virginia trial on an indictment[/caption] Appeal after a Circuit Court trial conviction on an indictment, says Fairfax criminal lawyer Appeal your Virginia Circuit Court guilty finding at trial on an indictment. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer I say...
Landmines run rampant in Virginia DUI prosecutions, in terms of accusations and the state of the law. At the same time, more opportunities than often meet the eye can be pursued for a DUI lawyer to successfully defend a person charged with DWI. As a...
Jeopardy is among the essential avenues for criminal defense lawyers to consider. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that prosecutors might have the temptation to dismiss a case mid-trial when they see their chances of victory slip, but that such action precludes later renewing...
Pushing back against DUI prosecutions needs to be the default for any Virginia criminal defendant charged with such an offense. As a Virginia DUI attorney, I say never give up and never give in with this and all other criminal prosecutions....
Testing for allegedly illegal drugs/ controlled dangerous substances -- other than marijuana plant material (versus hashish oil) -- commonly takes at least four months in my clients' drug cases, and often longer. An exception is for marijuana plant material testing, where I have seen recent...
HGN testing -- meaning horizontal gaze nystagmus testing -- in Virginia DUI cases is one of the three field sobriety tests (the others being the walk and turn (WAT) test and one leg stand (OLS) test) covered in the student field sobriety testing (SFST) manual...
Tire chalking is a common way for police or other parking ticketers to monitor whether a vehicle has overstayed the maximum duration for a parking space. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer I know that any incursion of government employees onto one's property might implicate the...
[caption id="attachment_80605" align="alignright" width="300"] Mandamus relief denied for dismissing Virginia marijuana prosecutions[/caption] Mandamus relief is not available to Virginia prosecutors seeking marijuana case dismissals Mandamus relief is not forthcoming in response to Norfolk, Virginia, Circuit Court judges refusing the commonwealth attorney's office's seeking dismissal of misdemeanor marijuana...
Refusal convictions are what such a high number of Virginia DUI defendants want to avoid that many are ready to plead guilty or no contest/nolo contendere to the parallel DUI charge in a deal to consequently enter as nolle prosequi/ not prosecuting the remaining...
Dax Cowart exemplified how an everyman can experience the most excruciating pain, transcend the pain, remain a true human, and scale great heights. He passed away two days ago, around seventy one years old. In 1995, I arrived at Gerry Spence's Dubois, western Wyoming ranch, where...
Stewart Dunn was on the board of the Washington, D.C.-area American Civil Liberties Union board when I joined it in 1992 when near the start of my criminal defense career (remaining until 1995). Stew immediately struck me as at once a devoted civil libertarian,...
Negotiations are typically a critical part of criminal defense, always from a position of trial readiness. As a Fairfax criminal attorney, I know that negotiations are not always about seeking a guilty/ no contest/ Alford plea deal versus working to convince the prosecutor to dismiss...
[caption id="attachment_80568" align="alignright" width="300"] Vindication of criminal lawyers standing up to conflicted military judge[/caption] Vindication comes for criminal defense lawyers refusing military judge's order to continue after confidentiality breach Vindication of criminal defense lawyers doing the right thing came last week when the D.C. Circuit concluded that...
Dismissing or not prosecuting misdemeanor marijuana possession cases is now the policy of the chief prosecutors in Portsmouth (except for likely still prosecuting juveniles for possessing marijuana) and Norfolk Virginia. As a Fairfax drug lawyer and civil libertarian, I applaud this move and encourage a...
As harsh as the Virginia criminal justice system generally is when compared to its two northern neighboring jurisdictions, a blessing in Virginia is that lawyers in criminal and civil cases get to question and talk with potential jurors at length in the jury selection/ voir...
Blood draws are less common in DUI cases than are breath alcohol (BAC) tests. As a Virginia DUI lawyer, I know that blood draws are common in DWI cases, whether to check for drugs beyond alcohol, because of an injured driver, or because an alcohol...
Immunity law needs to be considered by any trial witness wishing to assert the Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I have experienced several case dismissals for assault cases where the complaining witness hires a lawyer who tells the prosecutor...
Rushing justice in criminal and civil court cases can be tempting to many trial judges, often facing crushing court dockets that keep getting piled with more and more cases. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I believe that the solution to the challenge of overloaded court...
Liquor (alcohol, beer and wine) use in Virginia calls for knowing the relevant criminal laws applying to alcohol. As a Virginia DUI and criminal lawyer, I know that police remain on alert for suspected alcohol law violators.Virginia criminalized liquor laws from DUI to public intoxication....
Sex offender registration is but one of the harsh realities for those convicted in Virginia for rape, other sexual assault, child pornography, and soliciting minors for sex. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that the conviction and sentence for such crimes is a sharp...
