Criminal Defense

Cross exam (CE) does not start at the seat of an attorney's pants, but through careful thought, insight and preparation. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know full well that CE is an art, science and necessity. CE in and of itself will bring no...

Machine guns (MGs) are not created from bump stocks. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer and civil libertarian, I believe in a gun laws, firearms laws, and a Second Amendment with teeth limiting prosecutions and convictions. As with recent Second Amendment protections from the Supreme Court,...

Fairfax plea deals -- and settlement negotiations in all Virginia jurisdictions -- are not worth the paper they are written on if the judge is going to reject the party-agreed sentence or sentencing cap. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that if a Virginia...

Favorable judges are not guaranteed for your court case. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that judges run from the sufficiently patient to those with short fuses, from those who have high equanimity to those who are cranky and even angry, from those who...

Contraband defense became more of a challenge than ever when the Virginia Supreme Court reversed the commonwealth's Court of Appeals's wise reversal of a drug conviction where the defendant clearly had no x-ray vision to have known that a handgun and cocaine were in the...

LEO seizure (law enforcement officer seizure) of arrestees' assets and information is commonplace. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that even innocent property owners can be harmed in the process. Ask yourself soon, not later, what you will do to reduce the harm of...

False prosecutions abound. My work as a Fairfax criminal lawyer includes fighting accusations against innocent defendants. Not only are many jurors (with verdicts), judges (with pretrial release / bond / bail decisions, for instance) and prosecutors (with decisions to proceed with prosecuting) going to take...

Release dates from jail and prisons are critical for a Virginia criminal defendant to understand. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I understand that even the best Virginia criminal defense attorney cannot always avoid a conviction for his client, so minimizing incarceration time is key when...

Jury verdicts in Virginia can be attacked on arguments of judicial error or prosecutorial mis-steps, but rarely for juror error or juror misconduct. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that it is generally folly to seek appellate or other postconviction relief in Virginia for...

Unringing the bell and removing ink from milk should not be a Virginia criminal defendant's burden instead of keeping damaging inadmissible evidence out of trial in the first place. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know the sexist legal history that repeatedly elevated men's rights...