Criminal Defense
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...
Virginia Court of Appeals affirms felony drag racing conviction
Those who drag race in Virginia face serious penalties if convicted. Racing on any roadway or other places open to traffic is a class 1 misdemeanor jailable up to one year for reckless driving, and requires a driver's license suspension of six months to two...
The necessity of a trial flowchart and preserving the record for appeal
Bailey underlines the necessity of going to trial with a flowchart listing the elements needed to prove the case, and to preserve issues for appeal, which Bailey's trial lawyer here accomplished by timely arguing that the evidence was insufficient to convict.
Listen to your gut if you sense danger and to your nose if you smell toxicity
When I point out the importance of maintaining no anger against, no paranoia with, arms-length distance to, compassion for, and non-duality with our opponents, that does not mean to avoid our common sense against playing with fire, turning our backs on someone who will try...
Overdwelling on a perceived hailstorm on the horizon threatens to miss opportunities for victory
One will not do well as a military soldier to kvetch about brutal biting flies, heat rashes, leeches, and searing heat while overloaded with baggage in unfamiliar lands where the opposing fighters navigate and integrate with every inch of the terrain as easily and without...
In Virginia, a Party to a Criminal Action May Not Be Issued a Records Subpoena
In Virginia, a party to a criminal action may not be issued a subpoena duces tecum, ordering the production of records or other tangible items.
Confronting Our Demons on the Road to Success
Again and again, I hear my clients who look successful on paper tell me of the pressures that led them to improvidently get behind the wheel after drinking, grow marijuana at home rather than seeking legal alternatives, and risk their security clearances by seeking prostitution...
To postpone a misdemeanor trial or not- That is the question
Why postpone a Virginia General District Court trial at all? Possibly to further address new evidence or other discovery that has been obtained on the trial date. Possibly to work further on settlement negotiations.