Criminal Defense
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...
Beware the “time served” illusion
During my first year as a public defender lawyer, I arrived at the courthouse at my customary early time at least an hour before the judge took the bench, and at the courtroom customarily early. On my way to the courtroom with my ten to...
Fourth Circuit affirms conviction of foreign national for overseas theft
How do United States courts get extraterritorial jurisdiction over criminal prosecutions for crimes allegedly committed outside the United States? How did a United States federal trial court get jurisdiction over the prosecution of Manuel Noriega (I was not yet a criminal defense lawyer when the U.S....
Before spilling the beans to the cops, read and negotiate the fine print
"No" is an essential response by a police suspect who has no lawyer present. On the other hand, once they have lawyers, a slew of federal criminal suspects line up with their lawyers at prosecutors’ doors right away in the hopes of getting more favorable...