Criminal Defense
Fight inventory searches tooth and nail
Police run the gamut of very intelligent to having spelling and grammar errors embarrassingly galore on their police reports. Sadly, plenty of otherwise intelligent criminal suspects think they can outsmart police. Even the most unintelligent police officer has the advantage over suspects by not being...
On representing “those people”, George Zimmerman, and the power of effective jury consultants
On July 18, I discussed the state of racial injustice and racial justice in America in the aftermath of George Zimmerman’s trial, and said to stay tuned for my views on the criminal defense aspects of the case. George Zimmerman’s complete acquittal has led to...
Band together, criminal defense lawyers, or suffer the consequences
One day, I called a criminal defense lawyer colleague in another county to ask about how to overcome some procedural hurdles peculiar to his county’s District Court judges in obtaining a trial date postponement. When I did not reach him, I spoke with colleague II in...
Chalk it up to the jury — not the judge — for chalking acquittal
If you have not before decided that the United States’ criminal "justice" system is overcriminalized, look no further than the recent San Diego vandalism prosecution against chalk protestor Jeff Olson. How can chalking be a crime, when it just washes away with the rain? How...
Trial judges must beware allowing cops to interpret others’ conversations
Our tax dollars pay extraordinary amounts of money for law enforcement officers and prosecutors to spend countless hours each year to the tune of millions of dollars (if not billions of dollars) to further pursue the drug war that is a failure and an excessive incursion...
The amazing SunWolf’s newest book is available for pre-order
Courtesy SunWolf: A criminal defense lawyer’s criminal defense lawyer, showing lawyers the powerful path to humanizing our clients, through storytellng, kindness to all, summoning our inner magic, and a reminder that “reality is no obstacle.” Dr. SunWolf — the great storytelling lawyer who proclaims that...
Beware mandatory minimum sentencing for a substantially similar conviction
In criminal law, “three strikes and you’re out” refers to severe mandatory minimum jail sentencing, and not baseball, other than that mandatory minimum sentencing, for the defendant, can feel like being slammed on the skull with a baseball bat and smashed in the eye with a high-speed...
Clients and I are all in this together, and Wallace Shawn spotlights people beyond their roles
I once got a glimpse of how clients feel trusting me to fight for them when I frantically called for help to a former client who became my contractor, to fix what became a temporary burp in an important part of my firm’s administrative/technological operations. I have ended...
A drug dog’s positive alert, by itself, does not justify searching the car’s passengers
A drug dog’s positive alert, by itself, does not justify searching a car’s passengers, where the police have no particularized suspicion to believe that the passenger possesses drugs or is acting criminally together with the others in the car. Whtehead v. Virginia, 278 Va. 300,...
“Doctor, do something!!!” – “Lawyer, do something!!!”
What is it like for a doctor handling a life-or-death emergency when the patients’ relatives are pleading, even screaming "Doctor, do something!" "Doctor, what is my relative’s situation?" "Doctor, why are you not doing a better job?" As a criminal defense lawyer, I also face...
