Jon Katz’s victories

Dare to challenge a judge’s evidentiary ruling, and s/he might growl: "I have already ruled, counsel. Move it along." The judge may not be growling only to directly address the lawyer’s behavior, but  alsoto scare the lawyer’s client so much that the client will beg...

A jury acquittal is spectacular for drama and a lawyer’s battle exercise and ego. However, for a defendant, the earlier he or s/he wins the better on the defendant’s psyche. In that regard, yesterday I won a trial through the latter approach. A police officer...

Virginia drunk driving convictions carry harsh results, including one year of no driving except for restricted purposes permitted by the court, mandatory ignition interlock coming your way regardless of the blood alcohol content, and expensive total payments for an attorney, fines and costs, and mandatory...

When a lawyer fully prepares a case to go to trial, it is more likely to settle than when a lawyer prepares the case to settle. I prepare every case to go to trial, and take many of them to trial. The preparation increases my victories,...

If given a choice between having my client’s drunk driving case prosecuted in Virginia or Maryland, ordinarily I would choose Maryland. In the Maryland counties where I practice most often, including Montgomery, Prince George’s, and Howard, ordinarily, absent such unusual circumstances as a bad accident...

Image from National Institute of Standards & Technology. Sometimes criminal defendants win their cases by getting the evidence suppressed. That is how I won a recent DWI case. Where I practice, judges, not juries, decide evidentiary issues over suppressing stops, searches, seizures, arrests  and statements...

Image from National Institute of Standards & Technology. Recently I met with a potential client charged with drunk driving. When I was addressing some of his case defenses with him, he replied: "I am guilty, so why should I be pleading not guilty?" Why, indeed....

Assault trials are a unique challenge to win for the defense, as I have learned after having defended a few hundred of them. For simple assault, sometimes they are most often winnable in a “he said-she said” testimonial situation with no witnesses and no pictures...

A great number of my clients probably have committed the crimes they are charged with committing. A large percentage of my trial acquittals has likely been for people who committed the alleged crimes. Whether my clients have or have not committed the alleged crimes, and...

The amazing Sunwolf inspires me to see reality as no obstacle in the fight for my clients. As I repeatedly tell my clients when advising them to plead innocent and go to trial, that is the only way to have a shot at beating the...