Criminal Defense

Following are some particularly important recent Virginia Supreme Court opinions: Logan v. Virginia, ___ Va. ___ (Jan. 15, 2010): The “exclusionary rule is not applicable in probation revocation proceedings absent a showing of bad faith on the part of the police.” Jones v. Virginia, ___...

Thanks to a fellow listserv member for posting the following links for tracking criminal law legislation being proposed during the current Virgnia legislative session: Criminal law – substantive:https://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?101+sbj+018 Criminal law -procedure:https://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?101+sbj+019 Juvenile:https://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?101+sbj+099 Circuit Court – procedure:https://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?101+sbj+017 District Courts – procedure:https://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?101+sbj+016

Many judges focus on remorse, and the lack thereof, in sentencing. If a defendant has been wrongfully convicted, however, how may s/he show remorse? In Maryland, at least, judges may consider remorse in deciding whether the defendant is a good candidate for rehabilitation. Jennings v....

A friend told me he once saw Sting on a London street in the mid-1980’s. Word traveled rapidly that he was there, and Sting slipped deftly away before he got mobbed. I, on the other hand, saw Roger Daltrey in a Vancouver hotel lobby in 2001,...

Trial lawyers are familiar with the general obligation to timely object at trial, in order to preserve an evidentiary issue for appeal. To preserve speedy trial rights, it is critical not only to make timely speedy trial motions, but to object clearly on and in...

Congratulations to Donald Gates for finally being released from decades in prison over a murder he did not commit. Thank you to former D.C. Superior Court Fred Ugast — who presided over Mr. Gates’s trial — for granting this release, and for urging an investigation into...

Appellate judges repeatedly refuse to disturb trial judges’ sound discretion in assessing witness credibility in denying a criminal defendant’s motion to suppress evidence. Consequently, appellate judges should also refuse to disturb trial judge’s sound discretion in assessing witness credibility in granting a criminal defendant’s motion to...

Unfortunately, countless innocent people are wrongfully convicted on the testimony of an eyewitness saying "I will never forget that face" when the witness never had a chance to process the image of the suspect’s face and other features in the first place, when the visual...

To those who have expended substantial energy and frustration finding, hiring, training and retaining good employees, imagine how much tougher it is for criminal enterprises to find good help, considering that they cannot exactly advertise job openings on CraigsList. Enter Malcolm Dawson, who plead guilty to a...

In 1995, Howard County, Maryland, prosecutors dismissal a shameful sting prosecution against some workers at a massage parlor who some undercover police permitted not only to masturbate them, but apparently to do it to completion, which means such police truly were mixing business with misplaced pleasure (for...