Criminal Defense

Border risks abound with your cellphone and laptop computers. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I have been well aware all times this year that I have driven into and out of Canada, about how I would deal with any decision (which did not materialize) by...

Virginia plea deals are not guaranteed to be a reality merely because a criminal defendant accepts a plea offer. First is the risk that the prosecutor will back out from the deal before a judge accepts the agreement, or that the prosecutor will threaten to walk...

Fear regularly permeates courthouses in Virginia and beyond. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I work with my clients to manage their fears, in large part to have them fully prepared for court, for me to be fully prepared for their defense, for them to know...

Police searches (PCs) for contraband are part of their stock in trade. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I constantly pursue ways to invalidate PCs and the fruits of those searches. One thing that would repeatedly confound me -- at least if not so commonplace --...

Imminent danger [ID] must be present for a person to successfully advance a defense of self defense against an assault prosecutions. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I hear many of my clients and potential clients assert self defense, defense of others and pre-emptive attacks. Even...

Probation officers in Virginia wield tremendous power. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I experience their power in writing presentence reports for Virginia Circuit Court judges, supervising their probationers, notifying judges of alleged violations of probation, and testifying in court about their probationers. Regardless of how...

By sheer happenstance, the night before Alec Baldwin's legal team convinced the trial judge on July 12, 2024, to dismiss Baldwin's involuntary manslaughter prosecution with prejudice -- meaning for the prosecution never to return to court -- my son and I started watching Just Mercy, about criminal...

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...