Criminal Defense
Criminalizing driving over a specific THC/marijuana blood level ignores the absence of a cause-effect correlation
It was bad enough that 2000 federal highway legislation shoved mandatory criminalization of driving with a 0.08 blood alcohol level down the states’ throats under the penalty of otherwise losing federal highway funding. Now we have a slippery slope of governments trying to criminalize threshold...
Dangled Constitutional Rights: Virginia’s Supreme Court affirms drug conviction despite a police stop without a dangling object violation
Virginia's Supreme Court has affirmed a drug conviction resulting from a traffic stop by a police officer misunderstanding the state's law against dangling objects that obstruct the driver's view
Pounce on warrantless police searches of bags in motel rooms and other residences
Appellate opinions on search and seizure repeatedly uphold warrantless police searches of nearly innumerable varieties. Fortunately, today Virginia's Court of Appeals underlined the continued sanctity of the Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures, by requiring the exclusion of illegal drugs found in Lashant...
Succeeding with even the most despicable-seeming opponents through sticking, keeping within arms length, the joy of intelligence, non-duality, and equanimity
Remember importance of keeping proverbial physical contact with opponents, because maintaining physical contact with an opponent gives us the best chance not only to listen to and anticipate where they are coming from now and next, but also to neutralize and overcome their attacks much...
The landmines of inmates’ pretrial conversations with friends and family — all recorded
At some point, people detained pending their criminal trials -- and their friends and family -- let their guard down that all their conversations (save attorney-client communications, ordinarily) are tape-recorded and often reviewed and used by law enforcement and prosecutors.
Police must at least be competent and should instead be highly qualified
The Tulsa sheriff's department's hiring of volunteer sheriff Robert Bates on the apparent cheap cost the life of Eric Harris, a tragedy for Mr. Harris's family, Bates's conviction and pending sentencing, and likely a huge dollar payoff from any lawsuit that Mr. Harris's family has...
Virginia Governor Restores Voting Rights for Over 200,000 Who Have Completed Their Felony Sentences
On April 22, 2016, Virginia's governor Terry McAuliffe restored the voting rights, and right to run for office and be a notary public, for over two hundred thousand people who have completed their felony sentences, and any supervised release, parole or probation.
The lengths to which the courts allow the Fourth Amendment to be stretched to its breaking point
This police state still exists because too many people support and tolerate it, and because it has taken on a life of its own. The police state can still be reversed, but we need to work together and doggedly to reverse it.
Make Marijuana Legal By The Next 4/20
By now, with medical marijuana legalized in so many states and legalized in four states for recreational use, we know that marijuana appeals far beyond stereotypical stoners. Its medicinal uses for pain, anxiety, depression, and attention deficit disorder come without many of the undesirable side...
Persuasion through seed planting and seed watering
A criminal defense lawyer has a choice between wowing a client with oratory and panache, or delivering results in a more subtle way. Results are always more important than oratory and panache, although sometimes all can be accomplished at once. When the client has faith...