Criminal Defense
What drives criminal defense lawyers to fight for the accused?
What drives criminal defense lawyers to fight for the accused? I am not talking about the mere willingness to do such work, but about the very thirst to represent such clients and to do it excellently. Here is my brief story; I welcome the stories...
Why fall on a sword, when nothing worse is risked by fighting?
Numerous times, some colleagues scratch their heads about why I will not recommend my client to plead guilty when a probation-only sentence looks like a good bet, and when a guilty plea will get me out of court more quickly so that I will have...
Supreme Court permits appellate courts to presume reasonableness of sentences within the Sentencing Guidelines
Image from Bureau of Prisons’ website. On June 21, 2007, the Supreme Court permitted appellate courts to presume the reasonableness of federal sentences imposed within the Sentencing Guidelines. Rita v. U.S., ___ U.S. ___ (June 21, 2007). Although Rita still enables defendants to try to overcome such...
Unrepresented defendants: Beware of prosecutors and cops bearing tidings
To deal with prosecutors without a lawyer is like dealing with wayang shadow puppets; all will remain shrouded in mystery. This follows up on yesterday’s blog entry to beware of prosecutors bearing gifts. To unrepresented defendants, I also say beware of prosecutors and cops bearing...
Feds prosecute Max Hardcore for obscenity
Until George Bush I was voted out of office, the federal government spiritedly prosecuted obscenity, often leading to long prison terms. The Clinton administration did an about face and barely initiated any new obscenity cases, preferring to focus on child pornography and adults seeking sex with minors....
Hurdles and more hurdles to getting a habeas corpus hearing
A 5-4 Supreme Court majority is satisfied to give a trial judge carte blanche whether to grant a habeas corpus/post conviction hearing to a death row inmate complaining that his trial lawyer was ineffective for following his instructions not to present mitigating evidence at sentencing....
A facially defective warrant amounts to no warrant at all
The Bill of Rights. This follows up on my April 24 and 25 discussions of searches and search warrants. In 2004, the Supreme Court (1) confirmed that a facially invalid search warrant means the search was warrantless and (2) applied the same standard as would...
April 2007 Recent Virginia Supreme Court Opinions
Image from Virginia Forestry Dept’s website. Virginia’s Supreme Court releases a package of appellate opinions about every seven to eight weeks. Following is an overview of some of the court’s recent key criminal decisions: A passenger’s possession of a bottle of illegal drugs — without...
Recent Virginia Court of Appeals decisions
The Court of Appeals is Virginia’s intermediate appellate court. Here is an overview of some recent key criminal decisions from the Virginia Court of Appeals: – Whither Boykin in District Court? This month, Virginia’s Court of Appeals confirmed — as required by the Supreme Court in...
Homes as Castles and Cars as Downhill Skateboards
United States courts generally treat one’s home as the closest thing to one’s castle, by making limited exceptions for warrantless home searches. (On the other hand, search warrants ordinarily are too easy for police officers to obtain, with the honesty of warrant applications generally taken by...