Jon Katz’s victories

Conversing with prosecutors and police as just folks can be essential to obtaining great negotiated results. As a Fairfax criminal defense lawyer, I know that we defense attorneys need to get past seeing police and prosecutors as "the other" who want to convict our clients,...

Absent police witnesses are an occasional phenomenon in Virginia General District Court, which handles adult misdemeanor cases among other matters. However, non-appearance of law enforcement officers in court is limited in frequency by common judicial preference to set trials on law enforcement officers' (LEO) pre-designated...

Policy (guidelines) sometimes gets trotted out by prosecutors when explaining why they draw a certain line on negotiations, including amorphous or more defined limits on reducing a DUI charge under Virginia Code § 18.2-266, to reckless in negotiations. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that...

Testimony preparation (TP) is a vital part of your work with your criminal defense attorney. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that TP starts with my very first meeting with a potential client who may testify for his or her assault, drug, DUI or...

Aberration and rehabilitation are often important themes when a Virginia criminal defense attorney negotiates to settle a prosecuted case, and also for any sentencing proceedings. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that the last thing a prosecutor, police officer or judge wants on their...

Plea negotiations are a vital part of criminal defense. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that ideally no innocent person will plead guilty, no contest / nolo contendere, or Alford, and that people who committed crimes should not automatically deviate from pleading not guilty. In...

Exploiting the absence of essential prosecution witnesses is essenital for the accused. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that such absence does not always mean victory, because sometimes the witness shows up after all, sometimes the prosecutor finds a workable alternative witness or peace...

Blinders repeatedly arise with police -- usually in the form of willful ignorance about language challenges, balance and other physical issues, and failure to follow the Virginia Department of Forensic Science (DFS) mandate to inspect a DUI suspect's mouth for foreign substances at least twenty...

Resonating with judges and jurors is critical for your Virginia criminal defense lawyer to pursue. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I take this approach often by integrating my lawyer role with communicating beyond that role, as a regular human being with laser focus on why...

Narrowing reliance on police testimony is an important pursuit for criminal defense lawyers. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I expect many judges, jurors and prosecutors to treat the testimony of most law enforcement officers (LEOs) as worthy of reliability. In that regard, it was wonderful...