Criminal Defense
50 years after Gideon, we have far to go in assuring quality criminal defense to the poor and non-wealthy
Clarence Gideon. Beyond — and also part of — the fanfare of yesterday’s fiftieth anniversary of Gideon v. Wainright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963) (requires making available tax-paid lawyers for indigent defendants facing incarcerable prosecutions, under the Sixth Amendment), here are some of my own thoughts:...
Fourth Circuit puts brakes on police using innocent facts to detain and search people.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit is often referred to as one of the more conservative circuits for criminal law. Fortunately, the Fourth Circuit breaks from that characterization from time to time, including earlier this week, when the court determined that...
Getting to the place where the client is, from the power of zero
For me to truly help my client, I need to shed my lawyer’s cloak, keep and enhance my humanity, and find the place where my client is, so that we may move forward together. A criminal defense colleague of mine told a great true story...
Reconnecting with NACDL members after 13 years
Today through this Saturday is a golden opportunity for area criminal defense lawyers to attend the Washington, D.C., quarterly CLE conference of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, which last had a quarterly conference in this area in 1999. The continuing legal education program is...
Of prosecutors, power, high horses, and the magic mirror
In all state-level courthouses where I practice, prosecutors take over a table in the courtroom well within feet of the judge, unless a jury trial is scheduled there. Depending on the courthouse, judge and circumstances, a criminal defense lawyer who tries entering the well before...
Don’t let prosecutors rejoice over divisive competition among criminal defense lawyers
“We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.”- Ben Franklin. Prosecutors’ offices likely share with each other on email listservs and at conferences to help make each other better prosecutors. Plenty of criminal defense lawyers do the same, and...
A blue uniform makes one no more likely to tell the truth (and more likely to lie?)
When I remind judges that the law does not cloak police with any more credibility than a civilian, they readily agree with me. However, in reality, a huge percentage of judges seem to assign a higher level of credibility to police. It is exasperating to...
In Virginia, the handgun is legal when segregated by a closed glove compartment
Image from the Government Printing Office’s website. Spend enough time around Virginia Circuit Court clerk office windows, and you will hear the stream of applicants for concealed carry handgun permits. Many parts of Virginia and other parts of the South greet visitors and locals with particularly kind words...
Sentencing in Virginia – Be Ready for Showtime
“What are my chances of winning or of no jail?” is a common question potential criminal defense and DWI clients ask me. When they come to me early on for Virginia cases, I have thin information on which to base my reply, although I do...
Giving a cop the finger does not justify a stop nor arrest. (I am not pulling your finger — I mean leg — either.)
The middle finger never needs to be extended towards anyone. We have enough other fingers to gesture and point. Giving the finger is divisive in a world where we are all connected, and where the negative energy of giving the finger comes back to us...