Criminal Defense
A Criminal Defense Lawyer Needs to Help the Jury Avoid Buyer’s Remorse
The right criminal defense lawyer truly can make the difference between a favorable and unfavorable trial outcome, not only through case preparation, but by fully internalizing and well-executing the importance of the lawyer's role in swaying the jury in the right direction.
Criminal defense clients are not to be kept at arms’ length
If I keep distant from a client, I do not fully know my client. If I do not fully know my client, I cannot fully and persuasively convey to myself, the jury, the judge and the prosecutor who my client really is.
The importance for police and all people to practice de-escalation
The aftermath of the September 20, 2016, fatal Charlotte police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott includes police insistence that Mr. Scott was displaying a handgun, and his family's claiming the opposite. (Finally released police video footage of the shooting is here.) Even assuming for argument's...
Justice Dept & FBI trash PCAST forensic evidence report for findings they did not want to hear
The Justice Department's and FBI's trashing of PCAST's Report is the very definition of confirmation bias, through trashing a Report whose findings the Justice Department and FBI did not want to hear.
Beware having criminal defense clients testify
A testifying criminal defendant is on the witness stand only to answer the posed questions and tell the truth. Certainly, the criminal defense lawyer is obligated fully to prepare his or her client to testify
Fairfax County’s former chief prosecutor said Virginia prosecutes “on the cheap”
Then-recently retired chief Fairfax prosecutor Robert Horan said that "Virginia has this longstanding desire to do criminal prosecution on the cheap.
Terence Crutcher is Another Victim of an Unmanageably Overgrown Police State
Sadly, so long as the United States continues to have an overgrown criminal justice system and police state, Terence Crutcher's killing will be far from the last instance of wrongful police killings.
A trial lawyer must constantly re-examine and improve courtroom performance
Successful courtroom performance necessitates a combination of thorough preparation and improvisation. The preparation is needed just as any battle requires preparation.
Obtaining victory by vibrating away the dung
If we let it happen, we are constantly bombarded with gunk, garbage and negative energy. With me, it can start with something as small as facing a choice between cursing or blessing the driver in front of me who sticks his stinky burning cigarette outside...
A one year maximum jail penalty applies to Virginia misdemeanors that list no jail penalty
In Virginia, if a criminal misdemeanor statute lists no possible jail time, then the offense actually is a Class 1 misdemeanor, carrying up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $2,500. Va. Code § 18.2-12.