Criminal Defense
A tale of judges ruling 5-4 on Miranda
Bill of Rights. Miranda v. Arizona,384 U.S. 436 (1966), must be kept sacrosanct, and not made into a farce akin to a person dancing around with a fruit salad on her head. None of the sitting Supreme Court justices seem likely to vote to completely...
Beware what lurks around the corner with each new criminal conviction
Many of my clients breathe a sigh of relief when they learn that a prosecutor has offered a plea deal that is likely to result in much less incarceration time than through a trial loss, when they believe that the risks of a trial loss...
The presumption of innocence is king
The presumption of innocence, and the requirement of proof beyond a reasonable doubt in criminal cases, must seem to be a very foreign concept to countless criminal jurors. Hopefully Twelve Angry Men (not this 12 Angry Men) will convince more people of these critical principles of criminal justice....
4th Circuit: A known suspicious person shifting around in a car does not a lawful stop make
Yesterday, the Fourth Circuit issued a great opinion reversing a drug conviction on a finding of no reasonable articulable suspicion to stop a suspect, where the stop was mainly based on law enforcement’s being familiar with his past criminal history, believing the suspect was acting uncomfortable in seeing people he knew...
The Supreme Court retreats from Crawford on hearsay
Supreme Court’s spiral staircase. Copyright Jon Katz (photographed October 2010). Today, the United States Supreme Court substantially retreated from Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36 (2004), in determining that the Sixth Amendment’s Confrontation Clause was not offended where the state trial court allowed into evidence the victim’s dying...
Before Entering a Guilty Plea, Know How Irreversible it is
Photo from website of U.S. District Court (W.D. Mi.). When I started practicing criminal defense in 1991, the phrase “guilty plea” sounded like a dirty word, but I already knew that such pleas are a major part of the criminal “justice” system which otherwise would...
Fourth Circuit: Virginia 251 marijuana dispositions are not always convictions for immigration purposes
Today, the Fourth Circuit ruled that a marijuana disposition under Va. Code § 18.2-251 (also known as 251, which I fully discuss here) is not always a conviction for immigration purposes. Crespo v. Holder, 631 F.3d 130 (4th Cir., Jan. 11, 2011) . Crespo says: “We thus start...
The Constitution substantially limits the “lawful orders” police may make
 Bill of Rights. (From the public domain.) Thanks to a listserv member for citing to a 1965 Supreme Court decision that underlines the unconstitutional overbreadth of statutes criminalizing one’s not obeying a "lawful order" of a police officer, where the statute does nothing to narrow such orders...
When a misdemeanor conviction makes home firearm possession a crime
Image from the Government Printing Office’s website. District of Columbia v. Heller applies the Second Amendment to the individual right to possess firearms for home protection. Heller, 128 S. Ct. 2783 (2008). What happens when a person possesses a firearm at home in contravention of...
Statutory speedy trial rights in Virginia
In Virginia, a felony trial generally must commence within five months after probable cause is found at a preliminary hearing (or indictment if no preliminary hearing is held) for defendants detained pretrial, and nine months for those not detained. Va. Code § 19.2-243. Virginia’s Court of Appeals...